The jury deliberated for about four hours before making its decision. Never have so few caused so much harm to so many for so long, and the day of reckoning has arrived. It will clearly be a bonus or reward to smokers on top of compensatory damages. Florida law forbids punitive damage awards that could put a company out of business and requires judges to reduce excessive amounts. We're talking financial resources.
Financial resources means the whole ball of wax.
For example, Kaye said, trademarks, which represent untold value to cigarette makers but are not part of net worth, can be a factor for the jury. The risk of a huge punitive damage award led the CEOs of all five companies to take the unusual step of taking the stand and conceding that cigarettes are addictive and dangerous. That's an admission that would have been almost unheard of just a few years ago. They testified that their companies had changed their ways and are trying to warn people about the risk of smoking. Judge Robert Paul Kaye reads the verdict to the court Rosenblatt repeatedly questioned the officials' sincerity and accused them of lying to avoid being punished.