During testimony, the lawyers for the tobacco industry said the companies could only afford to pay between $150 million and $375 million. A higher amount, they argued, would put the five companies out of business.

Dan Webb, the attorney for Philip Morris Inc., called the verdict "an unfair procedure, unheard-of in American history." Philip Morris was ordered to pay $73.96 billion, nearly half of the total.

But Stanley Rosenblatt, the lawyer for the smokers, said the verdict "was a day of reckoning."

The Florida case was the first smokers' class-action lawsuit to go to trial. In April, the same jury ordered the tobacco industry to pay $12.7 million in compensatory damages.

The verdict marks the largest damage award of all time. Under Florida law, however, a punitive verdict cannot bankrupt a defendant.

The tobacco industry had filed a mistrial motion, and is likely to appeal the verdict.

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