The decision clears the way for the jury to return to a second phase in the trial that could award damages of more than $200 billion in the first class-action lawsuit against big tobacco firms ever to come to trial in the US. Targeted in the trial were tobacco majors Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds Tobacco, Brown and Williamson, Lorillard, the Ligett Group and the Brooke Group. The Council for Tobacco Research and the Tobacco Institute were also held liable for withholding and misrepresenting information. After seven days of deliberations, the jury handed Judge Robert Kaye a decision that said tobacco companies concealed information about the risks of smoking, and failed to inform smokers that cigarettes were addictive. The four-man and two-woman jurysaid the companies behaved with ``reckless disregard'' to a degree that could merit punitive damages.

Three of the jury members had never smoked, two were former smokers, and one was a smoker, said Miami-Dade court spokesman Morton Lucoff. The jury also said that the tobacco companies sold cigarettes ``with the intent to inflict severe emotional distress.'' Kaye imposed a gag order on all the parties in the trial, which prevents them from talking about any of the proceedings.

Lawyers for the tobacco companies had argued that smokers were well aware of the risks and decided of their own will to smoke anyway.

For the trial's second phase, nine plaintiffs will represent different types of illnesses for which the companies were held liable by the jury. Estimates of the final amount of damages reach anywhere from $200 billion to $500 billion.