The federal court jury in Newark, N.J., found that Liggett Group Inc. violated an expressed warranty, contained in advertisements that ran in the 1950s, that its product caused no ill effects.

It was unclear precisely what advertisements the jury pointed to in determining a breach of warranty, but in the 1950s Liggett ran ads that described L&Ms' "Miracle Tip" and said smoking caused no ill effects to the nose, throat and accessory organs.

It also found that the company failed to warn about the health hazards of smoking but awarded no damages on that count because the woman, Rose Cipollone, primarily contributed to her own death by continuing to smoke in the face of entreaties by her family that she stop.