Whiteley Case in California Reversed, in Favor of Tobacco Companies
April 07 2004 - 7:26PM
PR Newswire (US)
Whiteley Case in California Reversed, in Favor of Tobacco Companies
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., April 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The tobacco
industry today received a favorable ruling when the California
Court of Appeal found that a lower court failed to properly
instruct the jury in the Whiteley case. The court reversed the
verdict, and ordered a new trial on one claim. R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Company and Philip Morris Incorporated and a number of
asbestos companies were defendants in the suit. In 2000, a
California jury awarded $20 million in punitive damages and $1.7
million in compensatory damages to Leslie J. Whiteley, who
developed lung cancer after smoking for more than 25 years.
Plaintiffs Whiteley and her husband, LeonardWhiteley, filed the
lawsuit alleging that Mrs. Whiteley's lung cancer was caused by
smoking, along with bystander asbestos exposure. The court found
that the jury was not properly instructed regarding a 10-year
statutory immunity period protecting thetobacco companies from
litigation that was passed in California. If a new trial is
conducted, no evidence from 1988 to 1998 can be admitted nor
considered by a jury in deciding a verdict. The court directed that
judgment be entered in favor of the tobacco companies on the
negligent design claim stating: "There is simply no substantial
evidence from which the jury could conclude that the negligent
design of cigarettes was 'in reasonable medical probability' a
'substantial factor' contributing to Whiteley's risk of developing
cancer." The court found it unnecessary to address the punitive
damages awarded by the jury. "We are confident that we will prevail
if this case is retried," said Mark Holton, vice president and
assistant general counsel for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.
"Juries across the country, including those recently in California,
have sided with the industry on individual plaintiff smoking and
health personal injury cases, and the Whiteley case should follow
this trend. "As in all the other personal injury cases, we intend
to show what jurors and everyone plainly know -- that smokers have
long been aware of the significant, inherent risks of smoking, and
that people who choose to smoke in the face of these known risks
should not be financially rewarded," Holton said. In fact, Holton
said, since January 1998, more than 90 percent of the individual
personal injury cases in California against the tobacco industry
have been either dismissed by court order or voluntarily.
R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJRT) is a wholly owned subsidiary of
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:RJR). R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Company is the second-largest tobacco company in the United
States, manufacturing about one of every four cigarettessold in the
United States. Reynolds Tobacco's product line includes four of the
nation's 10 best-selling cigarette brands: Camel, Winston, Salem
and Doral. For more information about RJRT, visit the company's web
site at http://www.rjrt.com/ . DATASOURCE: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Company CONTACT: Ellen Matthews Wallace of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Company, +1-336-741-6694, or mobile, +1-336-829-9189 Web site:
http://www.rjrt.com/
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