(AP) - PORTLAND, Oregon-A landmark jury award of $100 million (€77.63 million) in damages against Philip Morris was thrown out by an appeals court, which ordered a new trial to reconsider damages against the tobacco manufacturer.

The narrow 5-4 ruling by the Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the jury's verdict on fraud and negligence against Philip Morris, and left open only the question of how much money the company should pay to the estate of a former smoker.

The jury had awarded $150 million (€116.44 million) to the family of Michelle Schwarz of Salem, but a judge later reduced that amount to $100 million (€77.63 million). Schwarz died of lung cancer in 1999 at age 53.

Chuck Tauman, a lawyer for the Schwarz family said the case would be appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court, while a spokesman for the tobacco company said an appeal would be considered. The court decision Wednesday did not alter Philip Morris' liability.

Tauman said the complex ruling rested on a very narrow technical question about whether the trial judge properly interpreted his duty to give the jury instructions requested by the tobacco company.

"The court mentioned there were 21 assignments of error that Philip Morris alleged were justified for reversal and they were successful on only one of them," Tauman said.

Overall, he said, the appeals court affirmed the bulk of the ruling, adding support to other cases against Big Tobacco.

"When you look at the effect on public policy and other litigation, it was an overall win for the plaintiffs," Tauman said.

The March 2002 verdict was the first such award in the nation based on claims that low-tar cigarettes led smokers to believe they were less dangerous than regular cigarettes.

The jury had agreed with lawyers for the Schwarz family, who claimed that Philip Morris fraudulently marketed its low-tar Merit brand as safer than regular cigarettes.

Multnomah County Circuit Judge Roosevelt Robinson found the $150 million (€116.44 million) award "grossly excessive" and reduced it by a third.

Tauman noted that Robinson, who died in 2004, had called the case one of the crowning achievements of his legal career.

If it survives appeal, the case will be returned to a different trial judge, and a different jury will be selected, Tauman said.

At that point, he said, the new jury could reduce the award, or it could decide to increase it.

"And we certainly aren't afraid to put that question to 12 citizens of Multnomah County," Tauman said.

A spokesman for the Altria Group Inc., parent of Philip Morris, said company attorneys were reviewing the ruling.

"It's a fairly complicated opinion, but obviously they've overturned the punitive damages," spokesman John Sorrells said.

The jury also awarded $168,000 (€130,415) in compensatory damages to Schwarz's family, which Philip Morris attorneys have argued also should be overturned.

The tobacco company attorneys had argued that Robinson should have followed a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that recommended there should be no more than a 9-to-1 ratio between punitive damages and other damages awarded to compensate for losses.