Bliley Lorillard
[Regarding Assembling Witnesses for Secondhand Smoke Forums]
Fields
- Type
- Letter
- Author
- Crohn, M.H., Jr.
- Recipient (Organization)
- Committee of Counsel
- Copied
- Ehringhaus, B. Mr.
- Jacob, E.J. Mr.
- Shinn, W.W. Mr.
- Named Person
- Shinn, W. Mr.
- Hoel, D. Mr.
- Finnegan, T. Mr.
- Jacob, E. Mr.
- Aviado, Dr.
- Morgan, Mr.
- Temko, Mr.
- Oliverio, R.
- Ehringhaus, B.
- Named Organization
- Social Security Administration
- Department of Defense
- FENSR
- Committee of Counsel Subcommittee
- Congress
- New Jersey Public Health Commission
- CTR
- Council for Tobacco Research
- Keyword
- Mitchell case
- FENSR case
- Cigar store owner's action
- Special Account No. 4
- Smokers rights
Document Images
'i
R.J.Reynold.~ Industlries, In¢:
~,nston-oal~em, N. C. 27102'
Max H. Cr,ohn,,Jt~.
A,ssistanli General Counsel
(919)~748-7,311
December 9, 1977
To. Committee of Counsel
At the Committee of Counsel meeting on December 8,
I mentionedi the subcommittee which I have been appointed
to chair that will begin assembling witnesses and witness
statements to be used in an appropriate forum wh,ere the
effects of smoke on. the nonsmoker is at issue. For
example, such witnesses or statements might be used in
a court case such as Mitchell in New Jersey, FENSR in
D.C. or the cigar store owner's action in Ber~i-ey; in a
regulatory hearing such: as in New Jersey, the Social
Security Administration or Department of Defense; in. a
carefully orchestrated symposium; in congression,al over-
site hearings; or before a state or local legislative
body.
As you will recall, when the decision was made to
present live medical witnesses for the New Jersey Public
Health Commission, we had very little time and it was
only because of the super-human efforts of Bill Shinn,
Don Hoel, Tim Finnegan and Ed Jacob that we were able to
put on the quality performance we did.
If we do not fully prepare ourselves, when the
next bell rings, we very well might not be ready,
Special Account No. 4 has been used to pay expenses
and fees connected with expert consultations and statement
preparation. Dr. Aviado's fees and expenses, for example,
have been paid from this account. The account is audited
and information sent to all participating companies on a
regular basis. A copy of the la:st audit report is attached,
Earlier this year, counsel discussed the payment of
expenditures connected with obta:ining public smoking witnesses
from the account and I was under the impression that ~such
expenditures were approved. It appears, however, that this
may not have been as clear as we thought,

R.~r :ynolds Industries, Inc.
WiCk,on-Salem, N. C. 27102
Committee of Counsel
Page 2
December 9, 1977
In any event, authorization is requested to use
the account to compensate such potential witnesses for
consultations, for the preparation of statements and for
expenses attendant thereto. I am unable to predict what
the amounts paidi would be with any degree of certainty.
Some clearance mechanism that would operate on a reasonably
fast basis could be established for amounts paid (a) in
excess of a certain level to any one witness or (b) over a
certain total dollar amount within a given period of time.
Major undertakin,gs (such as Dr. Aviado's fees for reviewing
literature -- wh.ich, incidentally, we hope he will be able
to continue) could be handled as they have been in the past
by obtaining approval on a project by project basis. We
could use a system, perhaps, of approval being assumed if
no objection, was raised within five days (or some such
period).
It is not unlikely that the fees to be paid will include
non-scientific witnesses (e.g., philosophical observations
with, respect So whether there is a need for ad;ditional re-
strictions) or technical services (carbon monoxide testing,
for example).
I have asked Messrs. Shinn, Hoel, Jacob'and Finnegan
to begin identifying, medical witnesses, and where possible,
preparing statements for them. Messrs. Morgan and Temko
have been requested to identify civil libertarians, constir
tutional lawyers and the like who could address smokers' rights
and the question of majority abuse. Ray Oliverio and Blucher
Ehringhaus will gather names of fire marshals, police chiefs
and others who are involved in enforcing restrictive legis-
lation.
The next meeting of our subcommittee is on the
morning of J~anuary 12 in Washington~ We hope at that time
to have a progress report which I, of course, will share
with. you.
MHC:rch
cc: Messrs. Shinn
Jacob
Ehringhaus
Sincerely,
Max Its. Crohn,
