Tobacco Documents Online

• • 0 Fax:3511 W;ISHENGTON TlMES Cigarette firms held not liable in death. By Thomas P. Wyman p~ a .asou.rto.Reu INDIANAPOLIS - A jury yester- day found ci ' s not re• sponsible or a smoker's cancer death, in a break for ehr Nfbsrrn inM,efrv which lost a similar lawsuit this month and faces new federal regulations. The estate and widow af Richard Rogers had sought at least $424,000 from four tobacco companies for lost earnings and medical expenses. Mr. Rogers. whose sneaked smokes at age 5 grew into a three-pack'a•day habit, died of lung cancer in 1987 at the age of 52. The lawsuit, filed shortly before his death, claimed Mr. Rogers, a lawyer, was addicted to cigarettes and that smoking caused his cancer. '. ' The tobacco eompatties - Ph' Merr3 C1fs1 R 1_ R nlde ar o o., a unLtSf RJR Nabiscn Holdinaa ' menr~t 'tbbaeee a+., owned by '87S'f-Industrtu PLC; and Liggett Group Inc. of Brooke G u PLC wasespon- sibility.. Rug 26 '96 3:08 P.24 AUG 2 41g9& .. The Rogers case, similar to the manyotherhealth-related tobacco law- suits, took on extremrimportance as theAndustry wondered whether the tide of opinion in Americas court- rooms has turned against it. Cigarette makers had long boasted they : had tu:ver.paid a cent in health-related law• suits brought by smokers. A$7ortda jury earlier this month : awarded 57A000 m a man who got lung cancer after 44 years of smoking. It was only the second time a jury has ruled against the industry. The first verdict was overturned on appeal. 'Ibbacco atocka` plunged after the verdict,and have failed to recover, un- like with past legal setbacks. The vet'dict, after 16 hours of delib• erations from the Ivlazion County jury, came on the same day President Clin- mn- announced his crackdown on to• bacco marketing to keep young people from taking up smoking. In closing arguments, plaintifl"s at- torney C. Warren Holland told jurors that Mc Rogers was addicted to ciga• rettes even before the 1964 surgeon . general's warning, and that tobacco companies were aware all along that their product was "unreasonably dun- gerous:• Mr. Holland also said the companies should ba held responsible for making cigarettes addictive. "This is not just a habit:' he said. But the tobacco companies said Mr. Ragershad continued to smoke will- . ingl}t despite a public perception.of dangers heightened by the surgeon general's report and then by cigat'ette- pack warning labels.