Hardin v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
In an Engle progeny wrongful death case remanded for a punitive-damages-only retrial under Soffer, the plaintiff relied almost entirely on generic tobacco-industry misconduct testimony from historian Dr. Robert Proctor, who knew nothing about the decedent. The Third DCA affirmed a directed verdict for R.J. Reynolds, holding that generic evidence of industry misconduct, untethered to the plaintiff's surviving product liability claims and to the decedent's COPD and death, was insufficient under the unchallenged jury instructions requiring that the misconduct be related to those claims and a substantial cause of the injury.
Key facts
- Plaintiff brought a wrongful death case against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. as an Engle progeny action, alleging the decedent died from COPD caused by smoking.
- After the jury returned a defense verdict on intentional tort claims in the initial trial, the case was remanded for a punitive-damages-only retrial under the Soffer bifurcation framework.
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Why it matters
This is a significant defense-side decision in the Engle progeny line, limiting what Soffer bifurcated punitive-damages retrials can rest on: generic Proctor-style industry evidence without plaintiff-specific linkage… — full analysis with a trial
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