A Los Angeles judge has ruled that a jury's $3 billion verdict against tobacco giant Philip Morris was excessive.
But the company will get a retrial only if the cancer-stricken plaintiff will not accept a settlement of $100 million.
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Mr Richard Boeken, with his son Dylan
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Superior Court Judge Charles McCoy ruled on a motion by the tobacco giant, arguing the punitive award was extreme and that the company is likely to face similar cases and could not pay $3 billion to every plaintiff.
In June, a jury awarded Mr Richard Boeken (56) the multi-billion dollar punitive award in addition to $5.5 million in compensatory damages. It was the largest award in an individual legal action against a tobacco firm.
Mr Boeken, a lifelong smoker with lung cancer, claimed in his legal action he was the victim of a tobacco industry campaign that portrayed smoking as "cool" but concealed its dangers.
Judge McCoy said he supported the jury's thinking but found the $3 billion sum "legally excessive".
"The jury plainly . . . found Philip Morris's conduct reprehensible," the judge wrote.
"The record fully supports findings that Philip Morris knew by the late 1950s and early 1960s that the nicotine in cigarettes is highly addictive, that substances in cigarette tar cause lung cancer and that no substantial medical or scientific doubt existed on these crucial facts".