A federal judge Thursday awarded long-time smoker Barbara Izzarelli $8 million in punitive damages, bringing the total amount of money she is due from R.J. Reynolds to $52.3 million. Courtesy Photo.
The monetary award for a former Norwich resident who smoked Salem cigarettes for more than 25 years before ending up with a dozen surgeries to her larynx and esophagus is now up to $52.3 million.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill announced he was awarding $8 million in punitive damages to Barbara Izzarelli, who began smoking when she was 12 years old. Underhill also announced that the interest on the offer of judgment, now called an offer of compromise, which increased to 12 percent per year since the December 1999 lawsuit was filed, was at $36.43 million. All told, the offer-of-judgment interest, the new punitive damages award and the existing $7.98 million in compensatory damages bring the total award to $52.3 million.
