A jury awarded a South Florida man $157 million Friday in a wrongful death case against two of the nation’s largest tobacco companies. This is the first same‑sex wrongful death case against big tobacco to go to trial in the entire country.
When Caprio died from respiratory disease in January 2018 following decades of smoking, his husband Bryan Rintoul, pursued damages as personal representative of Caprio’s estate and as a survivor making a wrongful death claim.
The suit claimed tobacco manufacturers conspired to hide the dangers of smoking cigarettes while furthering an addiction that eventually caused Caprio’s death.
The decision, which imposes $74.1 million each against R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris, is added to a $9.2 million compensatory award handed down last week for the respiratory disease-related death of Edward Caprio.
