Tobacco Company Appeals $20 Million Wrongful Death Award

Source from:  rds.yahoo.com JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. Associated Press - February 13, 2008 02/14/2008

An attorney defending Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company says it shouldn't have to pay the husband of a Kansas City-area woman who smoked for decades. The case is on appeal after Barbara Smith's family filed a wrongful death suit against the company. The Lee's Summit woman died in 2000 from a heart attack. In 2005, a Jackson County jury awarded her husband, Lincoln Smith, more than $20 million. Brown & Williamson is now part of North Carolina-based Reynolds American Inc. Brown & Williamson attorney Andrew McGaan says Smith was unsuccessful in a personal injury case against the company, which should block the wrongful death claim. An attorney representing Lincoln Smith says the family dropped the injury case but struck a deal with the company that the dismissal wouldn't prevent a wrongful death case. Enditem