RJ Reynolds told to pay wife of cancer victim $23.6bn

A US court has ordered the country's second largest
cigarette company to pay $23.6 billion (£13.8bn) to the wife of a smoker who died of lung cancer.
RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company was hit with the punitive fine in addition to $16.8m (£9.8m) in compensatory damages.

Cynthia Robinson took action against the firm in 2008, seeking compensation for her husband's death in 1996. An official at the company said the court's verdict was "far beyond the realm of reasonableness and fairness".

During the four-week trial, lawyers for Ms Robinson argued that RJ Reynolds was negligent in informing consumers of the dangers of consuming tobacco.
This negligence, the lawyers said, led to her husband
Michael Johnson Sr contracting lung cancer from smoking after becoming "addicted" and failing multiple attempts to quit.