This verdict won't drive the tobacco companies into bankruptcy. But there's more to life than economics. Even in this cynical age, there's much to be said for a roar of moral outrage. This was precisely what the Miami jury delivered with its ruling and with the jurors' post-trial descritptions of the tobacco companies as a gang of mendacious killers. Outrage is a proper response to this kind of arrogance.
Society has a right to say that some things, even though legal, are wrong.
This is what the jury has done, and it deserves our thanks.