Tobacco Documents Online

0 THE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 1996 Cigarette Makers Win Verdict In Suit by a Srnaker's Family _ By GLENN COLLINS In a victory. for the tobacco indus- try after a week full of grim news, an Indianapolis jury ruled in favor of major American cigarette compa- nies last night, barring damages asked by the familyofan Indianapo- lis man who died of lung, cancer in 1987 at the age of 52. The verdict kept anti-tobacco groups from a second courtroom vic- tory over cigarette makers this month. 'On Aug. 9, a Florida jury awarded $750,000 to Grady M. Carter of Jacksonville, a smoker for 44 ` years before he was stricken with ~-, lung cancer five years ago. The Indianapolis trial had been aa subject of intense interest on Wall Street, because it was viewed as a high-profile barometer of whether change was developing in the atti- tude of jurors toward the tobacco industry. The verdict, announced after a week of highly public reversals for the tobacco industry, left the ciga- rette makers suddenly jubilant after a difficult day: President Clinton earlier yesterday announced his au- thorization of sweeping regulations to curb cigarette sales and advertis-, ing aimed at children and teen-agers. And during the last week, Arizona, Kansas and Michigan had filed suit against tobacco companies to re- cover the costs of treating smoking- related illness, bringing to more than a dozen the number of states that had done so. The Indiana jurors deliberated for 16 hours over two days before reach- ing their verdict. Lawyers for the family of the deceased smoker, Rich- ard Rogers, who went through two to three packs a day for 20 years, had contended that the cigarettes he used were an "unreasonably dangerous" • product knowingly sold by the ciga- rette makers, who, the lawyers said, had neglected to make consumers aware of the risks. But the jury of five women and one man, in Marion Cbunty Superior Court, rejected those arguments. The defendants were Phiho Mor- rs,_the nation's largest cigarette maker, and R. J. Reynolds, the sec- ond-largest, as well-as Brown & Wil- liamson, the Liggett Group and sev- eral smaller companies. ~ - "Yes, it's a victory for the tobacco companies," said Roy D. Burry, a, securities analyst for Oppenheimer & Company. "But ultimately it's just one case. It's just the first batter up in the second inning of a very long game." He referred to other individ- ual or class-action_lawsuity.elther pending or yet to be filed. Charles R. Wall, a lawyer for the Yh31m Morris Comoanieso said that "this unanimous verdict sends a clear signal that there is no leg~l groundwswell in the American court system to reverse 40 years of prece- dents." He referred to a string ef victories in which, after 1,020 sut,Ss filed against the industry since March 10, 1954, the tobacco compa- nies have still never paid a cent jn damages, since the Jacksonville ver- dict will be appealed. Under Indiana law, the plaintiffs were barred from recovering danj- ages if the jury believed that Mr. Rogers had been more than 50 per cent to blame for his injuries, or if h8 had known of the risks of smoking and ignored them. David Anderson, the jury foreman, After days of reversals, tobacco companies gain. ~ said after the verdict that "under ihe laws of Indiana we felt that Richard Rogers bore a greater responsibility for the conditions that caused his death than did the actions of the defendants." Mr. Anderson said the jury believed that Mr. Rogers "hacj made a conscious choice to incur the risk." . But Graham Kelder, managing at- , torney of the Tobacco Products Li- ability Project, an antismoking or-. -ganization at the Northeastern Unf-~ versity School of Law in Boston, safd' the case had been relatively easy fo; thg cigarette companies to win " cause internal Brown & Williamson documents on the addictiveness of, nicotine had not been allowed into evidence by the judge, Kenneth I,. Johnson. Other cases will not be sq easy, Mr. Kelder said. • Mr. Rogers's family had sought unspecified damages that analysts ,; valued at $2.4 million. "I don't believe it," his wife; . Yvonne, said after the verdict was., announced, near tears and supportedby one of her lawyers as she left the: courtroom. But she also said, "A1- though we lost this trial, my hus=' band's life still made a differencer because a lot of people are now more aware" of the effects of tobacco- .,.-