Tobacco Documents Online

2077409653 PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE AUG 2 4 1996 °:Jury iules.i*n favor of o'tobacco firms, not smoker + By Thomas P. Wyman Nebisco Roldings Co; Co., ~ I ine nssa~a,ed Press PI~ ~ owjred b E.A T INDIANAPOLIS - A jary yesl~day found ~ 1p p(~t - ,n dzaretle firms not responsibk fora sm°ker's Rogera was hi 34ikt es o s r p ns y. ry' cancer death - a break for the tabacco Tfie Rogeis case, similar to the many other ' T indhstry, which los t a similar lawsuit this heaith-ielated tobacco suits; took on exlreme cc i month and faces new fedeml regulations. importanceastheindustrywonderedwhether °~ nton in iJS. courtrooms has : i The estate and widow of Richard Rogers ~~°f ~ had sought at least; 424,006 (rem fourtobacco turn~ ~u'°' it. Cigarette makers had long companiees for lost earnings and medical boasted that they have never paid a cent in expenses. Rogers, whose sneaked smokes at -'- ~ surts broupht by smokers. age 5 grew into a three-pack-a-day habit, died A~0" jniy earlier this month awarded at lung cancer in 1907 at the age ot 52. ;750,000toinutnwhogotlungcancerafter44 The suit, filed s hortly before his death, ~~ ~~ang. It was only the second time claimed that Rogers, an atlarney, was addict- al~ ~^rled a inst the industry. The first 0 to cigarettes and that smolang caused his verdictwai * um°n appeal, and the canror. • Florida case is being appealed now. Tobacco stocks,plunged after the Florida The l°bacco compazties - Phil( Monis verdict and have faded to recover, unlike with Cos•; RJ. Revndds Tobacco Co., a untt past legal setbacks 0 0 I the lndiars verdiet, after 15 Iwm-s. at . I deliberations fronrthe Marion Coun~ jmy, came on the same day that President C'•linton announced his crackdown on tobacco market- ing to keep young people from laking up smoktng. - (n dosing aigwnents, plaintifPs attomep C. Warren Holland told jurors •.that Richald Rogers was addicted to cifarettes even befare I the 1965 surgCoo general s warning, and that tobacco companies were aware all along that 'heir product was"unreasonablydangerous." I l°Pland atso said the companres should be I, °Id resNnsible tor making cigarettes addic- li%e. '"rhis is not just a habit" Shdthelahsccoc°m aniessaidRagersbad c'miinncd to smeY^ willingly. d;spite a public percepliou °F dangers heightened by the surge°n gen°ra s report and then by ciga- rette warning iabels.. _. Shmtty before Rogers' dealh, when lie was I asked by a tobacco executive why he hadn't stopped smoking earlier, he responded, 'I really didn't want to quit," Philip Morris ' lawyer David Hardy told jurors in the Florida case, lawyers were able to introduce tobacco company documents link- ing nicotine and addiction, but these records were barred from the Rogers case because it was a retrial, and the judge limited evidence to that introduced the fitst bme. Ttre earlier hial ended with a mistrial when the jury couldn't decide ifRogers smoked voluntarily. Re(ore the Florida case, the only other damage award returned against tobacco mak- ers, $400,00 to the family of Rose Cipollone of New Jersey in 1988,. was overturned on i appeal. The lawsuit was later dropped. I