Alachua County jury returns $34M verdict against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

An Alachua County jury last week returned a verdict of more than $34 million against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for its responsibility in the 1994 death of a 38-year-old Gainesville man.

The jury returned total damages just over $34.7 million to the family of Tyrone Dixon, who died from laryngeal cancer due to his addiction to cigarettes.

According to a press release about the case from Gainesville-based Avera & Smith, the law firm representing the Dixon family with the support of Jacksonville-based Milton, Leach, Whitman, D’Andrea & Eslinger, Dixon started smoking at age 11 or 12 and continued to smoke until shortly before his death. The release noted that Dixon tried unsuccessfully to quit several times.

Dixon's wife and two children, who were present in the courtroom, were awarded various amounts for loss of support and services, as well as pain and suffering. The jury also awarded punitive damages of almost $26 million.

Attorney Rod Smith, who handled the case along with Dawn Vallejos-Nichols for Avera & Smith, said the large verdict — like others across the country — largely has no impact on companies like R.J. Reynolds, which he recalled in this case still makes an after-tax profit of about $12.5 million per day.

"The tobacco business remains very profitable — the cigarette business I should say," Smith said.

He also said that it "goes without saying" that R.J. Reynolds will appeal the verdict.

This is the second time the case has been presented to a jury.

In 2019, The Sun reported that an Alachua County jury awarded $13.5 million in punitive damages to Dixon's family after previously awarding $2 million in compensatory damages. The case was reversed, however, due to a Florida Supreme Court ruling before an appeal had been decided that required new jury instruction.

"Mrs. Dixon has been amazing. She's stuck with this case a long, long time — many, many years. She continues to believe in the system and she's never wavered in her belief that justice will be done. And hopefully she'll be proven right," Smith said.

The claim is one of thousands across the nation referred to as “Engle progeny” cases, which arose after the Florida Supreme Court in 2006 decertified a class-action lawsuit filed in the name of Howard Engle, a pediatrician who smoked, against R.J. Reynolds and other tobacco companies.

Smith said the court's ruling found that the original jury's findings could be adopted, but that claims associated with the class-action lawsuit would have to be filed as individual cases.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Alachua County jury returns $34M verdict against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company