{"id":108088,"date":"2019-11-20T14:25:25","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T19:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/jury-awards-gay-spouse-of-deceased-smoker-157-4-million-in-suit-against-phillip-morris-and-rj-reynolds\/"},"modified":"2019-11-20T14:25:25","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T19:25:25","slug":"jury-awards-gay-spouse-of-deceased-smoker-157-4-million-in-suit-against-phillip-morris-and-rj-reynolds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/jury-awards-gay-spouse-of-deceased-smoker-157-4-million-in-suit-against-phillip-morris-and-rj-reynolds\/","title":{"rendered":"Jury Awards Gay Spouse of Deceased Smoker $157.4 Million in Suit Against Phillip Morris and RJ Reynolds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jury Awards Gay Spouse of Deceased Smoker $157.4 Million in Suit Against Phillip Morris and RJ Reynolds<\/b><\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0Martin Jernberg<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a> \/ Illustration<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Broward County, Florida jury awarded $157.4 million to the gay<\/a> spouse of a deceased smoker in a wrongful death lawsuit against tobacco giants Phillip Morris and RJ Reynolds. Bryan Rintoul\u2019s husband Edward Caprio died of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in 2018. $9.2 million in compensatory damages and $148.2 million in punitive damages were awarded.<\/p>\n

The case differed from other cases against big tobacco, in that it was the first time a gay<\/a> couple<\/a> had won, and same-sex<\/a> marriage was a factor in the case.<\/p>\n

Local10 reports<\/a>: \u201cFlorida law allows spouses to sue for wrongful death only if they were married before the person got sick. However, Jonathan Gdanski of Schlesinger Law Offices claimed the couple<\/a> would have been married before Edward developed COPD in 1996 if same-sex<\/a> marriages had been legal at the time. Although the couple<\/a> married in 2015, Rintoul and Caprio had been together since the 1970s. The jury agreed\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sun Sentinel adds<\/a>: \u201cThe five-week trial that ended Friday combined the Schlesinger firm\u2019s\u00a0persistence in tobacco cases<\/a>\u00a0with a newer legal frontier \u2014 ensuring that same-sex<\/a> couples<\/a> are not penalized for being unable to marry legally until relatively recently. Broward Circuit Judge David Haimes allowed the case to proceed with Rintoul as the plaintiff after Caprio died early last year at 74. \u2018There hasn\u2019t been another case like this in Florida,\u2019 Schlesinger said. \u2018I\u2019m not sure there\u2019s been another case nationwide.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Phillip Morris and RJ Reynolds are expected to appeal.<\/p>\n

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The post Jury Awards Gay Spouse of Deceased Smoker $157.4 Million in Suit Against Phillip Morris and RJ Reynolds<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad Gay News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Jury Awards Gay Spouse of Deceased Smoker $157.4 Million in Suit Against Phillip Morris and RJ Reynolds<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n