A USA court has told a tobacco company to pay a woman $23.6 billion in damages. Cynthia Robinson started fighting the company in 2008. Her husband died of lung cancer in 1996. He started smoking when he was 13 and died in 1996. Mrs Robinson said the company should have told her husband that smoking is addictive and can kill. Tobacco companies knew in the 1950s that smoking could kill. Her husband could not quit and was smoking the day he died.

The tobacco company's lawyer said the amount was crazily high. He added that it would not be allowed by the law. He said: "This verdict goes far beyond the realm of reasonableness and fairness." The woman's lawyer said jurors looked at the company's aggressive marketing aimed at young people. He said the company lied to the U.S. Congress, the public, and smokers. He said the company tried to blame the smoker. He called the jury's decision "courageous".