1st April 1999

This week: A trial in America about tobacco damages

negligence: the failure to do something that you ought to do.

damages: when a court of law awards damages to someone it orders those who are responsible for harming them to pay them a set amount of money

record damages: this is more money than has ever been awarded before in a similar case

consolation: something that is a source of solace or comfort

verdict: the legal term for the decision that is given at the end of a trial by the jury as to whether to someone is guilty or not guilty

This is the second legal blow against Philip Morris in less than two months. In February, a jury ordered the company to pay fifty-one-and-a-half-million dollars to a Marlboro smoker with terminal lung cancer, and financial analysts say this latest case suggests that juries in America are starting to punish the tobacco industry, and it could open the door to more such suits. Philip Morris will appeal against the ruling which it said was the product of passion and prejudice, and precedents suggest that the company has a chance of escaping the payment. So far in America, all verdicts of damages against cigarette manufacturers have been overturned at appeal.

terminal: describes a disease or illness that is incurable and causes death

open the door: to make possible: this expression often describes the effect unforseen events can have

suits: a suit is a case which is brought to trial in a civil, rather than a criminal, case

appeal: to formally ask the court to hear a case again in the hope of a reversal of the decision

precedent: a formal word meaning that something similar has happened before

overturned: in a legal context, to overturn means to change or reverse a decision