Brown & Williamson Compensates Sick Smoker

Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. sent a check to Grady Carter, a smoker who developed cancer, marking the first time a cigarette maker has compensated a sick smoker for an illness. After Florida’s Supreme Court declined to delay the payment pending an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the unit of British American Tobacco mailed a check for about $1.1 million, a Brown & Williamson spokesman said. The original 1996 jury verdict had been $750,000, which has grown with interest. In a January ruling, Florida’s high court said it wouldn’t revisit the judgment, denying a request for a new hearing. Louisville-based Brown & Williamson said it still plans its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Carter, a retired air-traffic controller who smoked cigarettes for 44 years, sued Brown & Williamson in 1995. British American Tobacco’s American depositary receipts closed up 11 cents at $16.87 on the American Stock Exchange.