HONOLULU, HI—Barnes Trial Group announced Attorney David J. Sales of our Tampa headquartered firm recently prevailed in a significant personal injury case before the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court. In Philip Morris USA Inc v. Ricapor-Hall, the Court affirmed the plaintiff’s product liability and fraud verdict against a major manufacturer of cigarettes. It also restored nearly three million dollars in damages that the trial court had deducted, based on a finding that the plaintiff was partially at fault for her injuries. The total award approved by the Court was $14,000,000.

The case was the first of its kind to be pursued to verdict in the courts of Hawaiʻi. The jury found that the plaintiff, Ramona Ricapor-Hall, was defrauded by misrepresentations concerning the health effects and addictiveness of cigarettes, which led her to smoke for decades and develop lung cancer. The Court not only affirmed the jury’s findings of fraud, but also ruled that a plaintiff’s comparative fault cannot be used to reduce an award of damages for personal injuries when the defendant is liable for an intentional tort like fraud.

Mr. Sales briefed and argued the case before the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court. His colleagues at the Alvarez Law Firm in Coral Gables Florida, Alex Alvarez and Nick Reyes, appeared as trial counsel in the case, together with Wayne Parsons and Sergio Rufo of Honolulu.

Mr. Sales recently joined Barnes Trial Group to handle the firm’s appeals, work in the firm’s growing mass tort practice, and assist the firm in trials of personal injury and wrongful death cases.