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Tobacco Company ordered to pay Cynthia Robinson $25 billion in damages after husband

$25 Billion for this? and Freedom Industries who spilled toxic chemicals into a major water supply in West Virginia gets fined $11k
 
The $11k is outrageous.
The jury's out on the $25bil I reckon.
Personally, I mean. I don't mean to speak for anyone else.
 
ro4eva said:
It is funny indeed.

I also found it amusing that - in an attempt to sell what are supposedly American Marlboro Reds - due to the fact that the name is officially trademarked with the TM & Patent Office, in Canada they have for sale what looks like a pack of Marlboro Red, except that it doesn't have the word "Marlboro" printed on it - only the Red logo (which is obviously pretty easy to notice). And the same goes for the Marlboro Lights.

I have smoked them countless times however, and to me they don't taste at all like the American brand - which really sucked. They actually taste more like the du Maurier brand. Then again, I don't live far from the border, so I would usually drive to the closest Duty Free shop to pick up my "Buy American" nicotine fix. In this case, American kicks ass IMO.

My theory, that part of the reason why you can't find many of the popular foreign brands over here, is because the tobacco giants running the market have purposely trademarked those names.

It's kind of sad I suppose, but part of the reason why I miss living in North Carolina is because of the tobacco up here. That and the winter.

I tried planting one the most hardy types of palm trees in my backyard a few years after moving up here. Big mistake.



That's a very good question, and I've always wondered that too.

I actually recall asking a native that question one day when buying some native smokes, and his answer was that their tobacco is "100% organic."

However, that left me wondering whether tobacco is consumed at all by insects and/or herbivores. Isn't the nicotine a poison to either? Is spraying even required? Do the tobacco giants up here spray their plants because of smokers trying to save money by breaking the law (stealing plants)? And I have no idea to be honest.
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The organic claim was likely a lie. Nicotine itself is a pesticide and is used as such. That is the evolutionary purpose of the chemical in the plant. It acts like a nerve agent in insects. I believe most of the additives used do things such as keep it burning in the wind, enhance the buzz, reduce sensation of harshness etc. the companies have been very strategic about them.
 
Do companies selling alcohol get sued like this? I mean, can a widow of an alcoholic that has died of liver failure do to alcohol sue for this kind of money & win?
 
Yeah good question, they don't seem to get sued like tobacco companies have been. Not sure on why that is. Someone will hopefully be able to enlighten us.
 
Because you can safely consume alcohol. There is no safe consumption levels of combusted tobacco. Cigarettes are the only consumer products that kill when the product is used in exactly the way it is intended to be used.

Plus, getting back to the whole punitive nature of the ruling, the $25b was awarded because of the lengths that tobacco companies went to cover up the risks associated with their product. To my knowledge the alcohol industry has never engaged in such practices (probably not least because the risks been common knowledge since long before the ability to manipulate public information on that scale ever existed). So while it isn't outside the realms of possibility that alcohol companies could face such lawsuits it is highly improbable that a jury would ever award punitive damages on this scale.
 
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I know gun companies have been sued for big money as well........

Isn't it logic that says that if you inhale smoke, its probably not good for your lungs.

When I was a kid, I didn't need the writing on the side of a pack of cigarettes to tell me that cigarettes were very bad for my health.

Hearing people cough their lungs out & my clothing & car smelling like crap was good enough for me.

The lawsuit of over 20 billion will be thrown out by another court.. No way that holds up.

Also, why does this lady & her family get all this money while millions of other people have died from cigarettes & their families didn't get jack......

Everything is backwards in this world........
 
TheLostBoys said:
Isn't it logic that says that if you inhale smoke, its probably not good for your lungs.
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No, not if there isn't wide understanding about particulates or the way that the lung works. For a long time people (scientists and doctors) thought it common sense that bad air caused disease and that smoke was a good way of treating bad air. Just because you can see an a priori logic to something it doesn't mean that was always as obvious as it seems now.

When I was a kid, I didn't need the writing on the side of a pack of cigarettes to tell me that cigarettes were very bad for my health.

Hearing people cough their lungs out & my clothing & car smelling like crap was good enough for me.
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I just about guarantee that if you're younger than, say, about 40 then you didn't just work that out for yourself as a kid because of your amazing powers of deduction - you subconsciously internalised the message that smoking is bad for you that had become common knowledge by the time you were born. If you'd been born when you were routinely being told that smoking was harmless or even healthy I'm sure you would have drawn very different conclusions as a child.
 
bit_pattern said:
Ahem... I realise you're speaking figuratively but it's a bad choice of phrase because, technically, the jury is in - it depends what the higher courts rule now ;)
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Indeed, that is a very good point regarding a very poor choice of words.
I was trying to come across as "balanced" when I am in fact very pleased at the win.
 
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