March 6 (Bloomberg) -- A Vector Group Ltd. unit must pay about $700,000 to the family of a retired trucking-company supervisor who died of lung cancer after smoking for 55 years, a Florida jury ruled.

A state court jury in Fort Lauderdale concluded today that Vector’s Liggett Group LLC is liable for Joseph Ferlanti’s death in 2004. Ferlanti, who smoked Chesterfield cigarettes made by Liggett, died at age 81, according to Todd McPharlin, the family’s lawyer.

Mrs. Ferlanti referred questions to McPharlin, who said, “This is an absolute victory. We’re very happy with the jury’s verdict. This is another example of the long history of the deception by the tobacco industry of the dangers of smoking. The jury recognized this.”

Leonard Feiwus, representing Liggett, would say only “we intend to take an appeal.”

Instead of telling consumers in the 1950s that its cigarettes were dangerous, Liggett officials chose “to put profits over lives,” McPharlin told jurors in closing arguments yesterday.

Altria Verdict

The verdict is the second in Florida in less than a month against a cigarette maker accused of misleading consumers about its products’ health risks. Another Fort Lauderdale jury ordered Altria Group Inc. Feb. 18 to pay $8 million to the family of another smoker who died of lung cancer.

The verdict in the Altria case was the first in thousands of lawsuits filed after the Florida Supreme Court refused to reinstate a $145 billion punitive-damages verdict awarded by a Miami jury to a statewide class of smokers in 2006.

The 8,000 cases pending in the state are split up among cigarette makers including Altria Group Inc., Reynolds American Inc. and Vector Group Ltd. The cases are slated to be tried in courthouses across the state in coming months and years.

Ferlanti’s case wasn’t part of the class-action because it was filed after the November 1996 cutoff for such claims, McPharlin said.

The family’s lawyer said Ferlanti, who at one point was a three-pack-a-day smoker, unsuccessfully attempted to quit smoking several times and lied to family and his doctor about his smoking habit.

Life Expectancy

McPharlin asked jurors to award more than $1.4 million in compensatory damages and $3.5 million in punitive damages over the trucking company manager’s death. His family contended he had a life expectancy of at least nine more years, the lawyer added.

Vector’s lawyers argued Ferlanti was aware of the risks of smoking “for a very long time” and shunned filtered cigarettes or those with less nicotine.

“Nothing Liggett did caused him to start smoking or caused him to stop,” Aaron Marks, one of the tobacco company’s lawyers, told jurors in closing arguments.

Carrie Bloom, a spokeswoman for Vector Group, said the company declined to comment on the latest verdict.

Miami-based Vector Group is the parent of cigarette maker Liggett Group LLC, whose brands include Liggett Select, Grand Prix and Pyramid. Billionaire Bennett LeBow, who bought Liggett in 1986, serves as Vector’s chairman.

Miami-based Vector rose 14 cents to $11.75 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has fallen 30 percent in a year.

The case is Carmela Ferlanti v. Liggett Group LLC, 03- 21697, Broward County Circuit Court (Fort Lauderdale, Florida).

To contact the reporters on this story: Jef Feeley in Wilmington, Delaware, at jfeeley@bloomberg.net; Mort Lucoff in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at morsybil@bellsouth.net.

Last Updated: March 6, 2009 18:00 EST