WASHINGTON, March 23: US tobacco giant Philip Morris was ordered Friday to pay more than 150 million dollars to the family of a deceased smoker who mistakenly believed that low-tar cigarettes would be less addictive and help her avoid cancer.

The verdict, returned by a jury in Portland, Oregon, dealt another blow to the world’s largest tobacco product manufacturer already, which is already beset by multiple legal claims.

The jury found the company was negligent and fraudulent in pitching so-called “light” cigarettes to consumers as a safer product and an alternative to dropping the bad habit.

Philip Morris promised to appeal, saying the decision was “inconsistent with the law and with the facts of the case.”

The wrongful death suit was brought by the widower of Michelle Schwarz, an assistant in her husband’s medical practice, who died of lung cancer in 1999 at the age of 53, after smoking for 35 years.

After several unsuccessful attempts to kick the habit, she switched to Merit cigarettes in 1976 because she believed that low-tar tobacco products were safer and would make it easier for her to achieve her goal.

She never succeeded.

The plaintiff charged that Philip Morris “intentionally made fraudulent misrepresentations about its tobacco products” and, therefore, must pay him more than 300 million dollars in damages.

But while refraining from granting the plaintiff his request in full, the jury found that Philip Morris bore 51 percent of the responsibility for the woman’s death. It thus awarded the plaintiff 168,500 dollars in compensatory and 150 million in punitive damages.

The company rejected the lawsuit as totally groundless.

“There is no such thing as a safe cigarette,” said William Ohlemeyer, vice president and associate general counsel for Philip Morris Companies.

Anti-tobacco activists hailed the decision as a major victory in their crusade against the tobacco industry, which they say is responsible for creating millions of tobacco addicts and ruining the health not only of smokers and those who suffer the effect of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.

“This may very well signal a new and important series of cases against Philip Morris and the other major tobacco companies that have long tried to get smokers to switch to low-tar brands rather than quit smoking,” said Attorney Mark Gottlieb, who represents Tobacco Products Liability Project, a civic action group.—AFP