R.J. Reynolds Gets Punitive Damages Ban Applied in Florida Cases

A Florida statute barring punitive damages against defendants previously punished for the same course of conduct applies to Florida wrongful-death tobacco cases in which the smoker died after a date in 1999, the state’s high court ruled Thursday.

The causes of action in Valton Sheffield’s personal injury suit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. changed when he died in 2007 and the suit became one for wrongful death, the 5-1 Florida Supreme Court said in an opinion by Chief Justice Charles T. Canady.

The result isn’t limited to Sheffield’s widow’s case, but applies across post-1999 wrongful death suits among the Florida ...