Plaintiffs Attorneys Win $17M for Smoker's Widow

Details: Theodore McKeever smoked Philip Morris cigarettes for 63 years beginning in 1943 at 13. The Davie man was diagnosed with emphysema and lung cancer. He died in 2013 about eight years after doctors detected a large mass in his left lung and removed the diseased section of lung. He never returned to work and received daily oxygen treatment to fight advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in his right lung. McKeever's health continued to deteriorate. In 2012, part of his colon was removed after his doctors found cancer. The next year, he fell at home and broke his hip, requiring another surgery.

Plaintiffs case: When his widow took up a survival claim against cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris USA, her attorneys argued the tobacco company knowingly pedaled a deadly product.