Tobacco Documents Online

-4- S4N JOSE NERCURYlIEW; 40 sesa,arrnrsFss Ind'anapolis jurors discuss with reportersfriday's veniiot, which found cigarette companies not responsible for a smbker's cancer death.. Jurv tw twz.dovvu !she didn'8 be- * e ' 6C,a L,YLL ~i.lllV1{uLl~, •'1CYl ' ly didn't want to quit," 'Philip ~~~~ 1~' S~• Morrla lawyer David Hardy tal,d Jurors ~: After the verdict, Hardy said: ~ by smoke~ -~~ "We'ravery eoconraged. • This was a decision reflecting the feei- ' the industry wondered whether ings.of all the members of the : jury. ... We'll take,the victory, the tide of opinion in America's t33unk,you."' Bx TdoafAS P. W17dtix Au,ri.[ed courtrooms.had turned againat it. Taldny on thi industry Pecr ' . . . , . -INDIANAPO[.IS - A.fury Fri-' IA•dia vaL tlN Courls day found cigarette. companies ~'We seem to do a little better in The other oompsnies 'involved not res onsible for.a smoker's ~~oom than io in the lawauk were R I. Re nolds p n~'si>opere Tobacco Co. a unit o-31L7R ~61's=' cancer death, a break for a tobac- and on television," HUl Ohlemey- co 0 co tndustr that lost a s mi ar er' nn atto for co defendant ~~~ Tobac- awsuinth and faces new ' ~ co Co., owned by B.A.T. Indas- federal regulations. Phi Morria Cae, said after the : trie3 PLC; and Ligge ruT. ver ct of g)-01RWr`Gpou PLC After deliberating 16 hours, the A disappointed Yvonne Rogers n e ori a caee that went in state jury . rejected six-figure 6aid . the trial' served to raise favor of Grady Carter on Aug. 9, claims from the widow of Rtrhard awareness of the dangers of lawyers were able to introduce Rogers that the companies were emoking and safA ; tobacco-company documents i ddi m f hi i t bl or s smok ng a e-. o a e tlonthat ended'wittt hia-death.in_ 1987 at age 52. Tobacco lawyers.said Rogers chose to smoke, despite warnings of the potential risks. "We were, very strong in our feeling that personal responsibili- ty is very Inipontant;' said 1ur-v ~oreman uavid -)Crffe_rwn.-"TfiTs' case is not a case of whether dga- rettee are dangerous." The Rogers verdict, coming on a:day when President Clinton im- • pased historic limits on the mar• ' keting of cigarettes to children, took on extreme importance as ;lieve her hus- •band died in .vain. I "I'm very sor, ry we've lost this pattie," she said. ?'I don't believe it's 'the end. of against the Industry. T.he. first verdict was overturned on ap- peal. In closing arguments of the In- dianapolis lawsuit,.which sought at-least $424,000 In damages,. plaintiffs attorney C. Warren Holland told jurors that.Rogen wasd addicted to cigarettes even before the'1964 surgeon general's warning, and that tobacco compa- nies were aware, all along that their product was "unreasonably dangerbus." Holland also said the compa- nies should be held. responsible for making cigarettes addictive.. "This is not Just a habit." But the tobacco companjes said Rogers had continued to smoke w.llingly, and was up to three packs a day, despite a public per- ception of dangers heightened by the surgeon general's report and . then by cigarette warning labels. When asked shortly before,his death by a tobacco executive why he hadn't stopped smoking earit- ~ linking nicotine and addiction, but these records were'barred from the Rogers case because it was a retrial and the judge limit- ed evidence to'that introduced the first tinie. - The . earlier trial d ended with a mistrial when the " jury couldn't dectde if Ro,gers- smoked voluntarily. o the Florida case which a , the war against ' ~~ .:, . being appealed, the only other the tobacco in- .`Yvonn* ~ Mo oes " damage award.returned against dustry." ' g tobacco makers, $400,000 to the A Florida jury earlier this family of Rose Cipollone of New month awarded $750,000 to a .iersey:in 1988, was overturned man who got lung cancer after 44 on appeaL The lawsuit was later years of smoking. It was.only the, dropped. second time ay jury had ruled AUG 2 4 1996