R.J. Reynolds secures $135 million victory in the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands

Client(s) R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

Jones Day successfully represented R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company before the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands in a pair of consolidated appeals, erasing more than $135 million from the judgments. In Brown v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the Supreme Court held impermissibly excessive a $70 million award of compensatory damages. In Gerald v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the court deemed a $30 million award of punitive damages unconstitutionally excessive, ordering reduction to approximately $14 million. And the court further reduced the judgments in Brown and Gerald by $49 million based on a pathmarking holding that Virgin Islands law does not provide for prejudgment interest on intangible damages for personal injury.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company v. Brown, S. Ct. Civ. No. 2019-0049 (V.I.); R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company v. Gerald, S. Ct. Civ. No. 2019-0050 (V.I.)