"RJ Reynolds told to pay wife of cancer victim $23.6bn", 20 Jul 2014

A US court has ordered the country's second largest cigarette company to pay $23.6 billion (£13.8bn) to the wife of a smoker who died of lung cancer. RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company was hit with the punitive fine in addition to $16.8m (£9.8m) in compensatory damages. Cynthia Robinson took action against the firm in 2008, seeking compensation for her husband's death in 1996…During the…trial, lawyers for Ms Robinson argued that RJ Reynolds was negligent in informing consumers of the dangers of consuming tobacco...[that] led to her husband…contracting lung cancer from smoking after becoming "addicted" and failing multiple attempts to quit…RJ Reynolds plans to appeal against the court's decision, vice president and assistant general counsel Jeffery Raborn said in a statement. "This verdict goes far beyond the realm of reasonableness and fairness, and is completely inconsistent with the evidence presented," he said…