Editing R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (section)

==Lawsuits==
[[File:20250105 Court-ordered warning statement re smoking deaths.jpg|thumb|300px|A [[United States v. Philip Morris|court-ordered]] corrective statement (2024)<ref name=NYTimes_20171124>{{cite news |last1=Maheshwari |first1=Sapna |title=Why Tobacco Companies Are Paying to Tell You Smoking Kills |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/24/business/media/tobacco-companies-ads.html |work=The New York Times |date=24 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241216105712/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/24/business/media/tobacco-companies-ads.html |archive-date=16 December 2024 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

In May 2011, a Miami-Dade Circuit jury awarded Julie Reese, an 82-year-old [[Cape Coral]] smoker represented by [[The Ferraro Law Firm]], a total verdict of $1 million from R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, after she developed [[laryngeal cancer]] and [[chronic obstructive pulmonary disease]]. The jury found Reynolds to be negligent, guilty of fraud by concealment and fraud conspiracy, and guilty of placing a defective product on the market.<ref name="smoker">{{cite news
| title = Smoker wins nearly $1 million award from R. J. Reynolds
| url = http://www.ferrarolaw.com/lawyer-attorney-1761044.html
| publisher = [[The Ferraro Law Firm]]
| date = May 23, 2011
| access-date = 2011-05-28
}}</ref><ref name="smokertwo">{{cite web|url=http://www.thestreet.mobi/story/11128250/1/reynolds-liable-for-damages-in-smoker-case.html|title=Reynolds Liable for Damages in Smoker Case|first=Courtroom View|last=Network|date=20 May 2011|access-date=23 October 2016}}</ref>

On February 25, 2020, Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the United States District for the Eastern District of Texas determined that Reynolds remained liable for its full portion of an annual $8 billion settlement payment based on a settlement agreement that Reynolds reached with the State of Texas in 1998.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/product-liability-and-toxics-law/reynolds-owes-for-former-brands-under-1998-tobacco-deal-judge|title = RJR Owes for Former Brands Under Landmark 1998 Tobacco Deal}}</ref> Reynolds had previously claimed that its divestiture of several brands to Imperial Tobacco Group Brands, LLC had extinguished its obligation to make payments for those brands under the 1998 Settlement Agreement. Chief Judge Gilstrap disagreed in a 92-page memorandum opinion and order, finding that Reynolds's position was "oppressive, inequitable, and unreasonable" in addition to being contrary to governing law.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.law360.com/articles/1247412/rj-reynolds-must-keep-paying-texas-for-98-settlement|title = RJ Reynolds Must Keep Paying Texas for '98 Settlement - Law360}}</ref>