Lawyers from New York and Boston teamed up for a first-of-its-kind battle with both asbestos and tobacco defendants sitting in the same Massachusetts courtroom that ended with a $43 million jury verdict for the family of an auto mechanic who was a heavy smoker and who died of lung cancer.

After a five-week trial and 23 total hours of deliberations spread over four days, a jury of 11 found against cigarette maker R.J. Reynolds on claims of defective design, fraud failure to adequately warn and in favor of the family of the late Louis Summerlin, a longtime smoker who worked for years as an automotive brake mechanic.

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