Tobacco Documents Online

AUG-25-88 SUN 11:10 , - - A1t}cR-k"AN-~STAT~v'4~kid----~, 2 4 jury's ve~tlict favors cigarette companies  Indiana trial ends in verdict favoring beleaguered tobacco industry Bv THontns P. 1iNktqrv Assxiatcd Press INDIANAPOLIS - A jt11y Fri- day found cigarette companies not responsible for a smoker's cancer deaih, a brea6 for thetocc_o ~'r- dustty, which lost a sbniiat stilt this month and faces new federairegnlations. The estate and widow of Rich- ard Rogers had sought at Least $424.000 from four tobacco conl- paniees for lost earnings and med• ical expenses. ~ Rogers, whose sneaked smokes at age 5 grew into a three-pack-a- tlay habit. tlied of lung cancer in 1987 at tile age of 52. ' Thestllt filed shortly before his I death claimed Rogers, an attor- ; ney, was addicted to cigarettes : ---and that smoking caused his ' cancer. The tobacco companies - Phil- i Motris Cos.; R.I R. e~ls o acco Co., a tulit of R•A2 Nabisco ITUIU~nss Go.; Atuerican TobacCo Co., owned by B.A.T. IndastrieS PLC: and Liggett Group Inc. of•, Brooke Group PLC-sai8 Rogers' : illness was his responsibility. ; The Rogers case, sunIlar to the ' tnany other health-related tobacco ! ; suits• took on extreme importance as the industry %vondered whether ' the tide of opinion in Anterica's 1 courtrooms has nu•ned against it- f Cigarette makers had long boast- { ed they had never paid a cent in t health-re[ated suits brought'by-I smokers. A Florida jury earlier this month awarded $750.000 to a 1na11 who got lung cancer aRer 44 years ofsnloking. It was only the second time alury has ltiled against the industry. The first verdict was • overturned on appeal. 'I'obacco stocks plunged after the verdict and have failed to rv- cover, unlike with past legal setbacks. wiitirtglyy despite a puhtic percep- tton of dangers helghtened by the surgeon generarsreportand then by cigarette warning labels. When asked shortly before his death by a tobacco executive why he hadn`t stopped smoking earli- er, Rogers had responded. "I really didn-t want to quit," Philip Morris i lawyer David Hardy told Jtu^ors_ -~ In closing arguments. plafnt(tTs attorney C. Warren Holland told jurors that Richard Rogers was addicted to cigarettes even before ttle 1964 surgeon general's warn• ing, and that tobacco companies were aware all along that their product was •'unteasonably dan- gerous." Holland also said ehe compan tes should be held responsible for tnaking cigarettes addictive. -1Rtis is oot.lust a habit.'• The tobacco companies sald Rogers had continued to smoke I 199& P. 08