SPRINGFIELD — After more than a month on trial, Jurors in Hampden Superior Court today awarded a plaintiff’s verdict of $10.6 million in the case of a man who sued Big Tobacco over his wife’s fatal smoking addiction.
The plaintiff in that case was Kevin Penza, a Walpole man, who sued on behalf of his late wife, Jacqueline, who died of lung cancer at age 59 from a cigarette habit she couldn’t kick. The couple’s daughter, Kimberly Breen Penza, joined the lawsuit.
The plaintiff’s attorney, Gary Paige of Florida, argued to the jury that Jacqueline Penza was collateral damage from decades of marketing by tobacco companies, whose advertising tactics targeted teenagers and adults young people from the seventies.
Paige said Penza started smoking when she was 14. His addiction was fueled by free samples that tobacco companies handed out to young people, the witness said.
“She tried again and again and again to quit. She tried New Year’s resolutions, pills, nicotine patches… her family says they would find her going through dirty ashtrays to find just enough cigarettes smoking tobacco,” Paige told jurors during opening arguments on Oct. 31.
The defendants were RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co., Philip Morris USA and the grocery chains Stop & Shop and Big Y World Class Markets, where Penza often bought the cigarettes that killed her. But by the jury’s verdict, all the defendants were removed except RJ Reynolds.
The lawsuit was the first of its kind to be filed in the region. Extensive litigation over smoking lawsuits has proliferated across the country since the 1990s, when 46 states and major cigarette distributors reached a Master Agreement on Smoking because of related health costs.
Since then, people have sued on behalf of family members who have died as a result of smoking habits, arguing that for years cigarette companies downplayed the health risks through clever marketing tactics.
Atlanta-based defense attorney Jason Keehfus told jurors that Penza was a heavy smoker who refused to quit despite pleas from her family and doctors.
“Jacqueline Penza would say she wanted to quit and five minutes later she would light a cigarette. She made her own decisions about smoking,” Keehfus told the jury.
Breakdown of the verdict
The defendants were charged with negligent marketing, conspiracy, fraud and marketing failure. Jurors rejected all claims except conspiracy.
However, the panel awarded millions in damages for Penza’s medical costs, pain and suffering, wrongful death and punitive damages.
The jury awarded:
- $1.6 million in medical expenses;
- $2.5 million for conscious pain and suffering;
- $2.5 million in wrongful death damages to Kevin Penza;
- $1.5 million in wrongful death damages to Kimberly Breen Penza;
- and $2.5 million in punitive damages.