TAMPA — A Tampa jury has awarded $15 million in damages to the widow of a man who died from illnesses related to years of cigarette smoking.
After a four-week trial, the jury said Mary Lima, 83, is entitled to $3 million in compensatory damages from the loss of her husband, Johnny Lima. The jury also ordered $12 million in punitive damages against the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
Lima, a grocer and restaurateur, began smoking in the 1940s, inhaling up to two packs a day for more than 40 years. He died in 1993 at age 60.
