( CNN ) -- A Florida jury awarded a widow $ 23.6 billion in punitive damages in her lawsuit against tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company , her lawyer said . Cynthia Robinson claimed that smoking killed her husband , Michael Johnson , in 1996 . She argued R.J. Reynolds was negligent in not informing him that nicotine is addictive and smoking can cause lung cancer . Johnson started smoking when he was 13 and died of lung cancer when he was 36 . The jury award Friday evening is `` courageous , '' said Robinson 's lawyer , Christopher Chestnut . `` If anyone saw the documents that this jury saw , I believe that person would have awarded a similar or greater verdict amount , '' he said . The Escambia County trial took four weeks and the jury deliberated for 15 hours , according to the Pensacola News Journal . The verdict included more than $ 16 million in compensatory damages , the newspaper said . Nine ex-smokers on their last cigarette . Chestnut said five of the six jurors who heard the case were 45 or younger , which meant he had to show them how the tobacco industry presented its product before the public awareness campaigns on tobacco risks and dangers in the 1990s . In a statement , J. Jeffery Raborn , vice president and assistant general counsel for R. J. Reynolds , said , `` The damages awarded in this case are grossly excessive and impermissible under state and constitutional law . `` This verdict goes far beyond the realm of reasonableness and fairness and is completely inconsistent with the evidence presented , '' said Raborn . `` We plan to file post-trial motions with the trial court promptly and are confident that the court will follow the law and not allow this runaway verdict to stand . '' Robinson 's case was once part of a class-action lawsuit in which a jury had awarded $ 145 billion in damages , but in 2006 the Florida Supreme Court overturned that verdict . In its ruling , however , the state 's high court opened the door for individual lawsuits against tobacco companies . Robinson filed her lawsuit in 2008 . FDA proposes crackdown on e-cigarettes .
NW Florida jury awards Cynthia Robinson $ 23.6 billion . She sued R.J. Reynolds , claiming company did not warn of smoking dangers . Her husband started smoking at age 13 and was 36 when he died in 1996 . R.J. Reynolds calls it a `` runaway verdict , '' says it will appeal .