ad info

 
CNN.comTranscripts
 
Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Feedback  

 

  Search
 
 

 

TOP STORIES

Bush signs order opening 'faith-based' charity office for business

Rescues continue 4 days after devastating India earthquake

DaimlerChrysler employees join rapidly swelling ranks of laid-off U.S. workers

Disney's GO.com is a goner

(MORE)

MARKETS
4:30pm ET, 4/16
144.70
8257.60
3.71
1394.72
10.90
879.91
 


WORLD

U.S.

POLITICS

LAW

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

 
TRAVEL

ARTS & STYLE



(MORE HEADLINES)
 
CNN Websites
Networks image


Morning News

Florida Tobacco Trial: Jury Deliberates Punitive Damages

Aired July 14, 2000 - 10:01 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Where there is smoke, there is ire, and that's what starts our hour today. This morning in Florida, a Miami jury is trying to put a dollar figure on the anger against tobacco companies. Right now that jury has just started deliberating. The jury has started deliberating within the last hour.

And for the latest on it, let's go ahead and go to Susan Candiotti who's been covering the story for us in Miami -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

Actually they started about five minutes until 10:00. So they've only just begun after receiving about 10 minutes worth of instructions from the judge. We are in a courtroom that is just adjacent to the courtroom where the trial has been taking place for the past two years. And we are able to monitor the proceedings from this particular location.

What's at stake? Well, according to the big tobacco companies that are being sued here, their ability to exist is at stake. They claim that they will go out of business if the attorneys representing the class of estimated 700,000 Florida smokers get what they want.

Florida smokers want a punitive damage settlement of $154 billion dollars, that would be a record. The attorneys for the five big tobacco companies that are being sued say that they would go out of business if that occurred. They maintain that they can afford to pay much less than that, somewhere between $150 million and $375 million. They say a judgment, in Philip Morris' case, for example, of $6 billion would definitely put them out of business.

Now who is hearing the case? Six people, their occupations are varied, including: a bank teller; a postal worker; a telephone technician; a welder; an assistant principle; and a Dade County school employee. One, two, three, four, five, six, I got them all, four are nonsmokers, one is an ex-smoker, and one person currently smokes.

There is no way to predict whether their backgrounds will have any effect at all on their deliberations, in terms of whether they've smoked or never smoked before. We might have an opportunity to ask the jurors that for ourselves once they return a verdict. And naturally there is no way to predict how long they will be out -- Daryn. KAGAN: Susan, you make an interesting point of telling us what these people do for a living. But this jury has been seated for two years, which seems amazing, how these people just left their jobs and sat in a courthouse for two years.

CANDIOTTI: Well, you can imagine the difficulty that that has put them under. Now, of course, under Florida law, an employer cannot fire someone for serving on a jury, naturally. And they receive a very minimum fee from the court. However, this is a great amount of distress on someone, and of course, makes it very difficult once they go back to their job. And who knows how many promotions they might have missed, for example. So they put in a lot of time on this case.

And remember, there have been three phases. In the first part of this trial, the guilt phase, they determined that cigarettes are addictive, defective and cause cancer. And then in the second phase, they agreed to award almost $13 million in compensatory damages to three people who were representing the class of Florida smokers. And now we are in the final phase, the penalty phase of this case.

KAGAN: It's been a huge sacrifice for those people. Thank you very much, Susan Candiotti in Miami.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

 Search   


Back to the top  © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.