Cigarette makers in a products liability case failed Wednesday to show a procedural violation — a missing email — was sufficient to block attorney fees on a $10.5 million award to a late smoker's family.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Philip Morris USA Inc. and Lorillard Tobacco Co. were defendants in a 2008 suit by John McCoy, a relative of a woman who died after years of heavy smoking.

Court records indicate they rejected a $200,000 settlement proposal made in February and July 2014. Later when a jury delivered the multimillion-dollar verdict, the companies returned to the proposed settlement to argue a plaintiffs attorney misstep should wipe out the claim for fees.