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Tobacco is dirty and dangerous.
Big Tobacco has known this for quite some time, as industry documents continue to show. It was the first time a smoking class-action case had ever made it to trial, and the punitive damages were the largest ever awarded in a U.S. product liability case. The verdict is likely to be appealed, and there are wide divisions on whether the industry will ever cough up a dime. But if forced to pay, the award could bankrupt Big Tobacco. To the jurors, the industry's pattern of lies and deception ultimately trumped the personal responsibility of smokers to quit.