Industry-Provided Depositions
Attachment Xi. Cecil Bias -V- Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation. Deposition.
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- 19970311
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50773 2907
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SUPr RIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CF.LIF4RrIA
FOR TY.F COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
CECIL I3IAS, )
-v-
Plaintiff ) NO. C 284 108
) DEPOSITION
BROWN & WILLIAI,SON TOBACCO )
CORPORATION, et al.,
Defendants.
)
DEPOSITION of CHARLES C. COHN taken before Anthony
Di Stefano, a Certified Shorthand Reporter and Notary
Public in and for the State of New Jersey, at the offices
of Herbert Rothenberg, Esq., Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Monday, June 2, 1980, commencing at 11: 30 a.m.
Appearances:
JOEL W. H. KLEINBERG, Esq., aopearing on behalf of
plaintiff.
SHOOK, HARDY & BACON, Esas., by ROBEP.T E. NORTHRIP, Est
GILBERT, KELLY, CROWLEY & JENNETT, Esqs., by WILLIAM
D. JENtIETT, Esq. and THOMAS J. VIOLA, Esc;., and
J. KENDRICK WELLS, III, Corporate Counsel, appearing
on behalf of defendants.
SILVER & RENZI REPORTING SERVICE
CER77FIED SHORTHAND REPORTERS
824 WEST STATE STREET
TRENTON. NEW JERSEY 08618
(609) 889-8181
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I 11 D E x
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I hitness Direct Cross
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Charles C. Cohr:
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Py Mr. .;lei::b Erct 3
7 By Mr. Northrip 108
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2 F.
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NO.
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F X H I B I T S
Iteir. For
. D.
5 p-1 ~kctivities of Charles Cohn 7
P-2 Letter dated 5/16/7 5 85
6 P-2 (a) "The 120 MM. cigarette" 85
P-3 Letter dated 12/11/75 87
7 P-4 Letter dated 6/6/78 88
F-5 Letter dated 6/13/78 89
8 P-6 Letter dated 6/20/78 90
P-7 (a ) Letter dated 7/5/78 90
I 9 P-7 (b) Letter dated 7/5/78 90
p-s Letter dated 7/26/78 92
10 P-9 Letter dated 8/1/78 92
: P-10 Letter dated 8/14/76 93
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11 P-11 Letter dated 8/1E/78 94
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I P-12 Letter dated 9/6/78 95
12 P-13 Letter dated 9/12/78 96
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0 P-14 Letter dated 9/22/78 96
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13 P-15 dsd
Letter tec2 10/5/78
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P-lf
Letter dated 11/7/78
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P-17
Letter dated 11/14/76
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P-18 Letter dated 12/4/78 103
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15 P-19 Letter dated 12/9/78 104
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P-20
Letter dated 12/12/79
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I 16 P-21 Letter dated 3/3/80 105
P-22 Chart 54
17 P-23 Tests bv Guilford Laboratory 56
P-24 Test on Raleigh Plan end cigarette
18 dated 5/29/80 69
P-25 Letters 74
19 P-26 Documents 76
P-27 Letter dated 12/21/73 and attachmentE 77
20 P-28 Letters dated 4/29/75 and 5/5/75 105
P-29 Photograph 107
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C H A R L E S C. C O H N, being duly sworn, I
testifies as follows:
DIRECT EXA24IIdATI0N BY 1MR. K:,EINrERG:
Q r`r. Cohn, will you state your full name for
our deposition?
A My name is Charles C. Cohn, C-O-II-P:.
Q Do you pronounce it Cohn?
A Cohn. It's often pronounced Rahn or Cohn.
I pronounce it Cohn. What's the difference?
Q We will try to do it the way you would preferl
Where do you live?
A I live 123 South New Hampshire Avenue,
Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Q For how long have you lived at that address?
A I have lived there since about 1952 or '53.
Q In addition to that being your residence,
do you also have business activity that you conduct fro
that address?
A I do.
Q My asking you questions and getting your
answers is known as taking your deposition. You under-
stand, of course, that you are here to have your deposi
tion taken, don't you?
A Yes.
Q We have discussed some of the things that may
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take place here earlier today, c-ic we not?
A Yes.
Q That was our first actual 6iscussion each of
us with the other, wasn't it?
A Yes.
Q There are certain around rules, some of them
for the reporter's benefit, some of then for the benefi
of the integrity for the transcript. I would like to a
over them with you again. Perhaps some Of these other
gentlemen may have sore other words of caution so this
can be the best presentation possible.
You understand, don't you, that your testimony is
under oath?
A I do.
Q And that it is the same oath you would take
should you be in the courtroom to testify in this case?
A Yes.
Q
It carries with it, of course, the sam.e penal~
ties for perjury? You understand that?
A Yes.
Q T_n_order for you to_give_me_YOUr best answer
to answer these other gentlemen's questions, should the
have any, you, of course, have to understand the
question. So if for any reason my question is not
understandable to you, if I am putting my words togethe
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that doesn't make any sense, if I drop ry voice, you
don't hear me, if for any reason you oon't understand m~~
question or any of the other questions that m.ight be
asked, tiill you stop the c!uestioner and ask him to repe t
it?
Of course. I
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Q Is there anything about your physical conditic~n
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which in any way prevents from hearing our questions,
thinking about them to the best of your ability and the
giving us your best answer?
A t2 o . I
Q There will come a time, of course, when the
Court Reporter will type up a transcript, a booklet, of
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your testimony here and you will have an opportunity to
read that, and if you wish, make any corrections. IIut
it's also to the best interest of the witness to give
his best answer first so that no comMents need be made
on the fact that he has changed an answer. Do you
understand that?
A Yes.
Q hTill you then take as much time as you need
in order to give us your very best answer today?
A Good.
Q Do you have any questions about the depositio
proceedings?
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F No. !
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MR. FLEI,:BERG: Gentlemen, anything you would ;
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like to add?
MR. JENNETT: name is Flillian D. Jennett,
representing Brown & Williamson. The only thing I
have is may it be stipulated we reserve all objec-I
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tions until time of trial, including the form of t~e
question or do you wish to object to the form of t
question during the deposition?
MR. KLEINBERG: I think we are so far away
from him we best object to the for:^m of the questio
MR. JENNETT: But your objections will be
preserved under our law.
MR. KLEINBERG: Yes, as provided by the code
of civil procedure.
MR. JENNETT: Right. (
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riR. KLEINBERG: Anything else we should discu~s
preliminarily?
MR. JENNETT: I don't think so, no.
Q Mr. Cohn, you have previously given me a docu,
ment consisting of a resume of some of your activities?
A Yes.
MR. KLEINBERG: Gentlemen, I have a lot of
documents that I will be using during the day. I
have made two copies that I can provide to you fol
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And I t`:cugY:t what we right do is compare that orhic~n
I havc coried with a copy that we can have the
reporter attach to the record and r"r. Cohn would
like to keep his original document.
i?'i. J%NNLTT: ??urir_c, the noon hour may we
inspect the documentf so we don't have to waste
time during the derosition?
P:R. XLF.INEFRG: Sure. Let's mark this first
one, which is entitled "Activities of Charles Cohn~
as Plaintiff's 1. Down in the lower left-hand
corner of this three-page document there is a form
number. It says, "Forr,c No. 529fl4-5."
Will you r;ark that as Plaintiff's 1.
(The aforementior.ed activities of Charles Cohn
marked Exhibit P-i for identification.)
::R. JENNETT: Mr. Kleinberg, before we procee
any further, rr:av I ask, do you intend this to he
an evidence deposition or Mr. Cohn's benefit to be
present at the trial, should this come to trial?
IMR. 1:LEI'dBERG: I have not discussed his inte
tions with him, except to learn he has no intentio
to nove to California or to come there for any
significant period of time. So I suspect we may
well be using his testimony here today via this
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deposition at the time of trial. i
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biR. JENNFTT: Thank you.
Y MR. KLEINBERG (Contir.uing) :
Q Showing you what has been marked as Plaintiff'
1, is that a list of some of the things you have done
during the course of your life?
A Yes, sir, it is.
Q
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Can you give us some of your general backgrounid
in terms of your education and your experience in workir~g
after you completed your formal education?
A My formal education is based on a high school~
training in Philadelphia. I graduated the Central High`
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School in Philadelphia. As far as my education after ~
that it was based on taking courses, non-credit courses
in physics and chemistry and metallurgy in the various
colleges in and around Philadelphia over a period of
years.
Q When was it that you graduated front high scho 1?
A 1920.
Q What was the date of your birth?
A 1901. {
Q How was it you became interested in metallurgl?
A I became interested in metallurgy because my
father had been in the stove business. At that time th
stove business consisted mainly of what they call coal
stoves, cast iron coal stoves. And when I was rather j
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