Products Liability Law Reporter

A Florida appellate court held that a trial court acted improperly in granting a directed verdict for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. on a plaintiff’s punitive damages claim in an Engle progeny case. The court also held that reversal for the defense was not warranted based on purported improper statements made by the plaintiff’s counsel during closing arguments.

Here, Mirtha Ledo, as personal representative of her late husband’s estate, brought an Engle progeny suit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. A jury found in favor of the plaintiff and determined that punitive damages were warranted against the defendant on the plaintiff’s design defect claim. The court, however, directed a verdict in favor of R.J. Reynolds on the plaintiff’s punitive damages claim.

The parties appealed and cross-appealed.

Affirming in part and reversing in part, the appellate court found that the trial court had considered R.J. Reynolds’s objections to plaintiff counsel’s closing arguments, sustaining some objections, admonishing counsel, and issuing curative instructions where warranted. Citing case law, the court held that improper statements made during closing arguments and limited instances of overenthusiasm in a two-week trial are not so highly prejudicial and inflammatory so as to deny the defendant a fair trial. Accordingly, the court found that the trial court had not abused its discretion in denying the defendant’s motions for mistrial and for new trial.

Turning to the punitive damages issue, the court found that the jury had returned a verdict form indicating it found by clear and convincing evidence that punitive damages were warranted against R.J. Reynolds. Additionally, the trial court had entered an order before trial determining that the plaintiff had demonstrated a reasonable basis for asserting her punitive damages claim. The jury’s verdict, the court added, was based on evidence that an addictive, defective product was intentionally and continuously introduced to consumers, including the plaintiff’s husband, who later suffered injury and death. The court held, therefore, that the trial court’s directed verdict on punitive damages had been improper. Accordingly, the court remanded.

Citation: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Ledo, 2019 WL 1548914 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. Apr. 10, 2019).

Plaintiff counsel: Justin Parafinczuk and Austin Carr, both of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and AAJ member Bard Rockenbach, West Palm Beach, Fla.