R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Wins Flight Attendant Case in Florida
May 03 2005 - 5:24PM
PR Newswire (US)
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Wins Flight Attendant Case in Florida
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., May 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today a Miami
jury found that R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and other cigarette
manufacturers were not liable in the case of a flight attendant
seeking compensation for a form of chronic sinusitis she claimed
was caused by exposure to secondhand smoke on airplanes. The suit
was filed by Lorraine Swaty, a flight attendant for US Airways.
"After hearing all the facts in this case, the six-member jury
unanimously agreed that exposure to secondhand smoke in airplanes
did not cause Ms. Swaty's condition," said Anthony Upshaw of the
Miami office of Adorno & Yoss LLP, who represented R.J.
Reynolds and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation. Swaty is
the eighth flight attendant case to go to trial since 2001. Juries
have ruled in favor of the tobacco industry in six of those cases
and against the industry in one case. Another case, Queipo, ended
in a mistrial in May 2002 and was subsequently dismissed. The Swaty
case is among approximately 2,800 suits filed by individuals
seeking compensatory damages for injuries allegedly caused by
occupational exposure to secondhand smoke as a flight attendant.
These suits stem from the Broin class-action suit, which was
settled in 1997. Other defendants in the case included Philip
Morris USA Inc., Lorillard Tobacco Company and Brown &
Williamson Tobacco Corporation, now known as Brown & Williamson
Holdings, Inc. Brown & Williamson's domestic tobacco business
merged with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company on July 31, 2004. R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Company (R.J. Reynolds) is an indirect wholly
owned subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE:RAI). R.J.
Reynolds is the second-largest tobacco company in the United
States, manufacturing about one of every three cigarettes sold in
the United States. R.J. Reynolds' product line includes five of the
nation's 10 best-selling cigarette brands: Camel, Winston, Kool,
Salem and Doral. For more information about R.J. Reynolds, visit
the company's Web site at http://www.rjrt.com/ . DATASOURCE: R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Company CONTACT: David Howard of R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Company, +1-336-741-3489 Web site: http://www.rjrt.com/
Copyright
Reynolds (NYSE:RAI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Reynolds (NYSE:RAI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024