Lawford Kidd's Blog

A cigarette company in America has been ordered by the court to pay compensation amounting to around £13.8 billion to a widow after her husband, who was a smoker, died of lung cancer, reports the BBC.

In addition to the award of punitive damages, she has also been awarded compensatory damages of £9.8 million.

Cynthia Robinson claimed that the company had been negligent by failing to properly inform customers about the risks associated with smoking tobacco.

The UK Government has announced plans to change the law in England and Wales to help ‘everyday heroes’ volunteer or go to the rescue of people in danger without the fear of being sued.

The changes will mean that judges will be required to give weight to three additional factors when deciding negligence cases:

• If the person was doing something for "the benefit of society" – to give weight to the fact people were doing a good deed like volunteering, running an event or trip, or helping out by clearing snow.
• If they had been acting in a "generally responsible way" - to make sure the court will give consideration to the fact people may have taken care when organising an activity but an accident has happened.
• If they were "acting in emergency" - if they stepped in to help someone in danger but something went wrong.

The changes will make sure that good Samaritans and community heroes will have the law on their side, the Government said.