Tobacco Documents Online

INDIANA JURY REJECTS WIDOW'S CLAIM, SIDES WITH TOBACCO MAKERS Indianapolis-Aug. 24-FWN/UPI--A JURY IN INDIANAPOLIS rejected late Friday a widow's claim that four major tobacco companies should pay damages for the death of her smoker husband. 0 Yvonne Rogers had sued Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds and two other companies in connection with the 1987 death of her husband, Richard Rogers, who smoked for 45 years. Richard Rogers was an Indianapolis attorney. He died of lung cancer. The Marion County jury determined that cigarette makers could not be held responsible for the death of someone who chose to smoke despite known risks. A trial in the same case last year ended in a hung jury. The verdict came the same day President Clinton announced a plan to restrict the sale and advertising of tobacco to minors, a proposal denounced by the industry. A Philip Morris official, Senior Vice President of Litigation Charles R. Wall, called the Indianapolis verdict "our most important victory to date dealing with the purported'addictive qualities of cigarettes." "This unanimous verdict sends a clear signal that there is no legal groundswell in the American court system to reverse 40 years of precedents that people are responsible for their own actions when it comes to tobacco use, " Wall said in a prepared statement. Copyright (c) 1996 Comtex Scientific Corporation Received by NewsEDGE/LAN: 8/24/96 2:12 PM