Case Name: Ella Mae Howard HORTON and Nathan Randall Horton, Widow and Son of Nathan Henry Horton, Deceased, Individually and on Behalf of All Wrongful Death Beneficiaries and the Estate of the Deceased v. The AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY and New Deal Tobacco and Candy Company, Inc.
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1995-11-09
Citations: 667 So. 2d 1289
Docket Number: No. 91-CA-00006-SCT
Parties: Ella Mae Howard HORTON and Nathan Randall Horton, Widow and Son of Nathan Henry Horton, Deceased, Individually and on Behalf of All Wrongful Death Beneficiaries and the Estate of the Deceased v. The AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY and New Deal Tobacco and Candy Company, Inc.
Judges: JAMES L. ROBERTS, J., concurs in result only.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 667
Pages: 1289–1312

Head Matter:
Ella Mae Howard HORTON and Nathan Randall Horton, Widow and Son of Nathan Henry Horton, Deceased, Individually and on Behalf of All Wrongful Death Beneficiaries and the Estate of the Deceased v. The AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY and New Deal Tobacco and Candy Company, Inc.
No. 91-CA-00006-SCT.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Nov. 9, 1995.
Rehearing Denied Feb. 15, 1996.
Charles Victor McTeer, McTeer & Associates, Greenville, Don Barrett, Barrett Law Office, Lexington, Frederick B. Clark, Greenwood, Shirley Byers, Greenville, for appellant.
James E. Upshaw, Upshaw Williams Big-gers Page & Kruger, Lonnie D. Bailey, Up-shaw Williams Firm, Greenwood, Edward Blackmon, Blackmon Blackmon & Evans, Canton, Shelby D. Goza, Hickman Sumners Goza & Gore, Oxford, Calvin R. King, Anna Maria, FL, Thomas E. Bezanson, Chad-bourne & Parke, New York City, Mary T. Yelenick, Chadbourne & Parke, New York City, for appellee.

Opinion:
BANKS, Justice,
for the Court:
This matter deals with the liability vel non of a tobacco product manufacturer and distributors with respect to the cancer contracted by the plaintiffs' decedent. The matter went to a jury which rendered a verdict for the plaintiffs but assessed zero damages. The plaintiffs appeal that result and the defendants cross-appeal asserting an entitlement to a directed verdict in its favor. A majority of this Court concludes that the court erred in failing to instruct the jury that the "risk-utility" standard applies in determining liability and that the court erred in granting an assumption of the risk instruc tion. A plurality concludes that these errors are of no moment because, despite the assumption of the risk instruction and the failure to give the risk utility instruction, the jury found for the plaintiffs. We conclude that such a verdict is consistent with both the instructions given and the evidence. It evinces a finding that the product is unreasonably dangerous, that the decedent did not assume the risk, but that, upon application of our doctrine of comparative fault, no damages should be assessed against the defendant. Accordingly, a plurality would affirm the judgment of the circuit court rejecting both the plaintiffs' appeal and the defendants' cross-appeal. Joining the plurality as to result on the direct appeal are those who would reverse the trial court on defendant's cross-appeal on the basis of the view that a proper application of the law of products liability would render a directed verdict in favor of the defendant. Those who would reverse the judgment on the direct appeal on the basis that the errors in instructing the jury impermissibly affected its verdict, join the plurality in rejecting the cross-appeal. In sum, we affirm as to the direct appeal and as to the cross-appeal.
I.
a.
This is an appeal from a judgment entered on a jury verdict in the Circuit Court of Lafayette County. This action was commenced by the decedent, Nathan Henry Horton ("Horton"), on May 14, 1986, against the appellees/cross-appellants, the American Tobacco Company and New Deal Tobacco and Candy, Inc. ("the defendants"). Upon his death on January 27, 1987, his widow, Ella Mae Howard Horton, and his son, Nathan Randall Horton ("the plaintiffs"), were substituted as wrongful death beneficiaries. The plaintiffs filed their Fourth Amended Complaint on September 14, 1989. Prior to trial, the plaintiffs withdrew their implied warranty, failure-to-warn, and misrepresentations claims.
The trial began on September 4, 1990, in Oxford, Mississippi, with the plaintiffs pursuing two theories of tort liability: negligence and strict liability. Upon completion of the presentation of the plaintiffs' case-in-chief, the trial court granted, in part, the defendants' motion for a directed verdict, dismissing the plaintiffs' claims of negligence predicated on their "failure to test" and "contaminants" allegations. The court subsequently dismissed the plaintiffs' negligence claim in toto.
Following a three-week trial, the case was submitted to the jury on a strict liability theory, with instructions also given on assumption of the risk and comparative negligence. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs but awarded zero damages, b.
Horton was bom on July 7, 1986, in Holmes County, Mississippi. He began smoking Pall Mall unfiltered cigarettes in 1955. Prior to that, according to Horton's deposition testimony, he smoked cigarettes rolled with tobacco he obtained from cans of his father's Prince Albert tobacco. When he began buying his own cigarettes, Horton bought Pall Malls because they were long, unfiltered cigarettes that he felt gave him more for his money. Additionally, Horton testified that he considered Pall Malls to be "a good buy."
During the course of his deposition, Horton admitted that from childhood, he had been told that smoking was bad for him. He had been aware, over the years, of purported links between smoking and disease. Horton testified that he had been warned by many, many people of the dangers of smoking. Horton admitted that his doctor had told him not to smoke. Moreover, Horton had known specifically of the risk of cancer associated with smoking. Horton also admitted that he had heard others describe, and had himself referred to, cigarettes as "coffin sticks" and "cancer sticks" through the years.
Beginning in 1966, Horton was further warned of the reported risks of smoking by a warning label contained on each package of cigarettes he smoked. Horton acknowledged that he had heard about the Surgeon General's Report concerning smoking and lung cancer. He also admitted that he had read the federally-mandated warnings, and that he had been aware of the warnings for many years. Despite these repeated warnings, Nathan Horton continued smoking.
Horton sought medical help in the fall of 1985 for chest and arm pain. He was diagnosed as having mild emphysema in October of that year. In February, 1986, doctors at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Jackson concluded that he had lung cancer. Horton died of pulmonary hemorrhage secondary to lung cancer on January 27, 1987.
At trial, the plaintiffs presented the testimony of several medical experts. These experts testified to the effects of cigarette smoking, the components of cigarettes and cigarette smoke, and the human carcinogens found in smoke. Dr. David Burns, the first expert called by the plaintiffs, testified that the 1964 Surgeon General's Report on smoking conclusively found that cigarette smoking caused lung cancer in men. He further testified that every Surgeon General's Report since that time had reached the same conclusion. Dr. Bums testified that 95-97% of all lung cancers occur in smokers. Additionally, Dr. Burns testified that the advertising efforts of the tobacco industry had caused a false sense of security in the general public and that the general public was not aware of the magnitude of the risk associated with smoking.
Dr. Heinz Ginzel testified that cigarette smoking is highly addictive and that the addictive component is nicotine. He further testified that not only is nicotine addictive, but that it also increases the risk of lung cancer. Additionally, Dr. Ginzel testified that tobacco smoke is the number one human carcinogen according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Finally, Dr. Ginzel testified that Horton was addicted to cigarettes.
The plaintiffs next introduced the video deposition of Robert K. Heimann, former president and chief executive officer of the American Tobacco Company. Heimann testified that he took the position that cigarettes are not injurious to health. He further testified that it was the American Tobacco Company's position from 1954-1980 that cigarettes were not injurious to health. Heimann testified that he and the American Tobacco Company were well aware of scientific reports that linked smoking to lung disease. Heimann even admitted that some of these reports were commissioned by the tobacco industry itself. Heimann also testified that the American Tobacco Company wanted the public to believe that cigarette smoking was not dangerous to their health and that they wanted the public smoking their brands of cigarettes. Finally, Heimann testified that Congress was wrong in requiring warnings on cigarettes. Moreover, Heimann stated that World Health Organization, the Canadian Ministry of National Health and Welfare, the American Medical Association, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, the American College of Chest Physicians, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the American Public Health Association, the U.S. Veterans Administration, and the British Ministry of Health were all wrong in concluding that cigarettes are hazardous to the health of the general public.
Dr. Richard Pollay testified that during the 1950's when Horton began smoking, there was very little belief among the public that smoking caused lung disease. Dr. Pol-lay testified that the public is still largely unaware of the dangers associated with smoking. Dr. Kenneth Warner testified that cigarettes are unreasonably dangerous and are the only product that causes death if used exactly as intended.
The doctors that performed the autopsy on Horton, Dr. George Smith and Dr. Robert O'Neal, testified that smoking Pall Mall cigarettes was the cause of Horton's emphysema, lung cancer, and subsequent death.
Based on this evidence, the jury returned a verdict against the defendants and in favor of the plaintiffs but awarded zero damages. This appeal followed.
II.
Plaintiffs contend that this ease should be reversed because the trial court instructed the jury in accordance with the "consumer expectations" rather than the "risk-utility" standard for products liability. It is clear that this Court has adopted the latter stan dard. Sperry-New Holland v. Prestage, 617 So.2d 248 (Miss.1993). They also contend that the jury should have been allowed to consider whether the defendant was negligent in manufacturing and marketing the product.
The fact is, however, as strenuously urged by the plaintiffs, the jury found for the plaintiffs with respect to the question whether the product was unreasonably dangerous. It must have done so in order to have found for the plaintiffs as its verdict indicated. It follows that the failure to give a risk-utility instruction or a negligence instruction was harmless. Dunn v. Jack Walker's Audio Visual Ctr., 544 So.2d 829, 831 (Miss.1989) ("[Ejrrors in jury instructions are deemed, harmless, moot or immaterial . [where] the jury verdict on the point at issue gave the appealing party the most favorable result he could have received had the trial court handled the point correctly.") See, Dicus v. Republic Paint and Varnish Works, 128 Miss. 189, 192, 90 So. 729, 730 (1922); Hoover Commercial Co. v. Humphrey, 107 Miss. 810, 820-21, 66 So. 214 (1914).
The most favorable result for the plaintiffs from a negligence or a risk-utility product liability instruction is a verdict for the plaintiffs as to liability. That is what they got. Their concern has to do with the assessment of damages which is not a function of the negligence or risk-utility liability instructions.
III.
This brings us to the question of the verdict. The jury was given a comparative fault instruction, over defendants' objection, telling it that if it found that cigarettes were unreasonably dangerous, and, if it further found that the plaintiff Horton negligently contributed to his injuries, then the jury should determine the percentage that each party's fault contributed to the injury and render a verdict for the plaintiff deducting the percentage of Horton's fault from any damages sustained. The jury was also given, over plaintiffs' objection, an "assumption of the risk" instruction. There the jury was told that if it found that Horton appreciated the risk of using cigarettes and voluntarily used cigarettes in violation of that risk, then the jury should find for the defendant American Tobacco Company.
Other than the comparative fault instruction, the jury was not given an instruction telling it what verdict it should render, if it found that Horton's conduct was the sole proximate cause of his injury. The court stated and plaintiff acknowledged during the colloquy concerning the instructions that should the jury find that Horton's fault should be attributed 100% on a comparative basis, then the plaintiffs would get nothing. While before now there has been no occasion for this Court to consider such an occurrence, it is both conceptually and legally sound. See Byrd v. Matthews, 571 So.2d 258, 261 (Miss.1990) (Sullivan, J., dissenting, joined by Hawkins, P.J.) ("The trial court could have . allowed a jury to award Byrd $0 damages applying the doctrine of comparative negligence...."); Munn v. Algee, 730 F.Supp. 21 (N.D.Miss.1990); (Approving verdict of $0 rendered on comparative negligence special interrogatory allowing the jury to find 100% causation in the plaintiffs subsequent acts even though the jury answered "yes" to the question whether the original negligence was still at work.); Hayes v. McFarland, 535 So.2d 568 (La.Ct.App.1988) (Upholding a jury verdict finding plaintiff the sole proximate cause of the injury in dog bite case where defendant was strictly liable under Louisiana statute and comparative negligence applied.); Akins v. Glens Falls City Sch. Dist., 75 A.D.2d 239, 429 N.Y.S.2d 467, 469 (1980), rev'd on other grounds, 53 N.Y.2d 325, 441 N.Y.S.2d 644, 424 N.E.2d 531 (1981) (Herlihy, Justice, concurring.) ("[T]he defendant still can completely avoid damages by proving that upon comparison the contributory negligence or assumption of risk proportionately reduces damages to zero." (Emphasis in original.)); Clements v. Blue Cross of Washington & Alaska, Inc., 37 Wash.App. 544, 682 P.2d 942, 945 (1984) ("[A] plaintiffs negligence may reduce the amount of damages, perhaps even to nothing in an appropriate case_").
The jury appears to have done just that— found that Horton's negligence was 100% responsible for his damages. The plaintiff argues that in doing so the jury found that the product was unreasonably dangerous and that the plaintiff died as a result of smoking the product in question. Plaintiff now complains, however, that American is not entitled to claim negligence because its position at trial was that it was not negligent to smoke cigarettes. The argument is not well taken. The question is not what position the defendant took, but whether the verdict was responsive to the instructions and evidence. The evidence was that the plaintiff, Horton, was aware that smoking was dangerous; that cigarettes were referred to by him and others as "cancer sticks"; and, that there was a warning label on the cigarettes at a time when, if he had quit, evidence would support a conclusion that he would not have developed cancer from smoking.
While Horton's actions in continuing to smoke might be characterized as evidence supporting a conclusion of assumption of the risk, that doctrine is subsumed in our comparative fault doctrine. Miss.Code Ann.1972 § 11-7-15; See, McDaniel v. Ritter, 556 So.2d 303, 319 (Miss.1989) (Sullivan, J., concurring); Hill v. Dunaway, 487 So.2d 807, 810 n. 1 (Miss.1986). Both parties recognize that the plaintiffs' decedent's own actions must be given some role in attributing damages to relative fault. Whether the context is an "open and obvious" hazard or assumption of a known risk we have tended to rely upon comparative fault principles. See Tharp v. Bunge Corporation, 641 So.2d 20, 25 (Miss.1994) (Comparative fault applies where an unreasonably dangerous condition is open and obvious); See also Newman v. Missouri Pac. R. Co., 421 F.Supp. 488 (S.D.Miss.1976) aff'd in part and rev'd in part on other grounds, 545 F.2d 439, reh. den., 551 F.2d 863 (5th Cir.1977) (Discussing the application of our comparative fault doctrine in the context of "last clear chance".). The conduct relied upon by the defendant to assert assumption of the risk is the same conduct upon which the jury could rely in finding negligence. Hill v. Dunaway, 487 So.2d at 810.
If the verdict is to be defeated, then it must be based on the conclusion that the jury assessment of fault is against the overwhelming weight of the credible evidence evincing, bias and prejudice on the part of the jury. Bass v. Montgomery, 515 So.2d 1172, 1175 (Miss.1987). The trial court found that the jury verdict was responsive to the instructions and the evidence and was not the product of bias or prejudice. There is nothing in this record which suggests that the finding was an abuse of discretion. Id.
It follows that as to plaintiffs' direct appeal the judgment of the circuit court must be affirmed.
IV.
Defendants contend on cross-appeal that they were entitled to a directed verdict. A majority of this Court would reject that claim on the merits for the reasons stated in the separate opinion of Presiding Justice Lee. Moreover, as a result of the verdict rendered no judgment was rendered against defendants. We affirm that judgment. It follows that their claim is moot as they are entitled to no relief.
For the foregoing reasons the judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED ON DIRECT AND CROSS-APPEAL.
JAMES L. ROBERTS, J., concurs in result only.
HAWKINS, C.J., concurs in part and dissents in part with separate written opinion joined by PRATHER, PiJ., and SMITH, J.
DAN M. LEE, P.J., concurs in part and dissents in part with separate written opinion joined by SULLIVAN, PITTMAN and McRAE, JJ.
BANKS, J., joins this opinion in part.
McRAE, J., concurs in part and dissents in part with separate written opinion joined in part by DAN M. LEE, P.J.