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A court in the USA has ordered the tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds to pay a woman $23.6 billion in damages. Cynthia Robinson filed a lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds in 2008 and fought for six years for compensation. Her husband Michael died of lung cancer in 1996 after two decades of smoking. He started smoking when he was 13 and died when he was 36. Mrs Robinson argued that the company was negligent in not informing her husband that nicotine is addictive and that smoking can lead to lung cancer. She said tobacco companies knew in the 1950s that smoking was potentially lethal and should have been more active in telling people. Johnson's lawyer said: "He couldn't quit. He was smoking the day he died."
美國一法庭判決煙草巨頭雷諾茲公司向一名婦女支付高達236億美元的損害賠償金。辛西婭.羅賓森在2008年對雷諾茲煙草公司提起訴訟，為了爭取賠償金打了6年的官司。她的丈夫邁克爾在吸煙20年之后在1996年死于肺癌。邁克爾在13歲的時候開始吸煙。在36歲的時候去世。羅賓森女士辯護稱，公司并未告知自己的丈夫尼古丁容易上癮，也沒有提醒他吸煙容易導(dǎo)致肺癌。她說，煙草公司在20世紀(jì)50年代就知道吸煙有致命危險，所以它們應(yīng)該更加積極地提醒人們。約翰遜的律師稱，他戒不了煙。他在死的那天還在吸煙。
A lawyer for R.J. Reynolds, America's second-largest tobacco company, said the compensation was disproportionate. He said: "The damages awarded in this case are grossly excessive and impermissible under state and constitutional law." He added: "This verdict goes far beyond the realm of reasonableness and fairness and is completely inconsistent with the evidence presented." Mrs Robinson's lawyer Chris Chestnut said jurors looked at R.J. Reynolds' aggressive marketing, particularly campaigns aimed at young people. He said: "[R.J. Reynolds] lied to Congress, they lied to the public, they lied to smokers and tried to blame the smoker." He added that the jury's decision was "courageous".
譯文屬可可英語原創(chuàng)，未經(jīng)允許，不得轉(zhuǎn)載。
