Josh Kleinbaum
On the day she became a millionaire, Patricia Henley went shopping at
the 99 Cent Store.
Henley's seven-year battle against Philip Morris USA ended Monday
when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal by the
tobacco company, cutting short Philip Morris' last effort to reduce
or overturn a $10.5-million verdict.
"It still didn't sink in," said Marion Belding, Henley's
72-year-old father. "I guess when she gets a check in the hands,
she'll really realize it. You become a millionaire and then go
shopping at the 99 Cent Store."
Henley began smoking at 15, and it quickly became a habit, smoking
two or three packs per day, she told the News-Press in 2002. She was
diagnosed with lung cancer in 1997, at age 50, and doctors told her
she had four months to live. That's when she hired an attorney.
Henley sued Philip Morris in January 1998, claiming that the
company put addictive substances in cigarettes without telling
smokers. In 1999, a jury awarded Henley $1.5 million for pain,
suffering and financial loss and $50 million in punitive damages. The
trial judge cut the punitive damages in half, and an appeals court
reduced the number to $9 million in 2003.
"This is the first time that Philip Morris or any tobacco company
has had punitive damages against them that were upheld by the highest
court," said Madalyn Chaber, Henley's attorney. "This will encourage
people that it can be done. It will ease these [cigarette lawsuits]
through the court system because the groundbreaker has happened."
Chaber expected Philip Morris to wire the money to her law firm on
Tuesday. Henley plans to use $1.5 million to address medical bills
and other costs, but she is putting the punitive damages into the
Patricia Henley Foundation, a charity to teach children with
respiratory problems or cancer about theater, the arts and the
dangers of smoking.
Henley, whose cancer is in remission, declined to be interviewed.
During the course of the case, Henley's been through a lot. In the
last four months alone, her mother, Penny Belding, and her
half-sister, Cathy Stewart, died of colon cancer. Her husband, Jose
Reyes, suffered two strokes and a heart attack. Because of their
health, neither Henley nor Reyes has been able to work, so the family
has taken out loans and gone into debt, Belding said.
"Patricia was determined to see this through to the end," Chaber
said. "She's a very strong person to have withstood all of this."
During the jury trial in 1998 and 1999, attorneys from Philip
