Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal reversed a $43 million verdict jurors awarded the family of a deceased smoker, over the Miami-Dade Circuit Court’s admittance of inadmissible hearsay statements.

In doing so, Third DCA Judge Monica Gordo noted in her concurring opinion in the case involving the plaintiff, the estate of Norma Lipp, that she agreed with the defendant, Philip Morris USA Inc., that Lipp’s statements presented through her sons were backward-looking and were not offered for the purpose of showing her state of mind at the time of the conversation.