A Broward Circuit Court jury awarded $1.93 million Thursday to the husband of a woman who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for more than 40 years. The Florida jury deliberated for more than eight hours before handing down the verdict for Leon Barbanell, 92, who sued on behalf of his late wife, Shirley. The Marlboro smoker started smoking when she was 16 and died from lung cancer in 1996 at 73.
“No amount of money would bring back his wife,” said the widower’s attorney, Jonathan Gdanski of the Law Offices of Sheldon J. Schlesinger in Fort Lauderdale. “He’s suffered tremendously as a result of her passing, and he’s entitled to be compensated for her premature death.”
