The Jurys New Smoke Signals

Some might say she was killed by the cigarette industry. But in a severe setback for anti-tobacco lawyers, a Florida jury this week cleared R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, the second biggest US tobacco company, of all blame for Jean Connors death, concluding that she chose to smoke in spite of the well-known risks.

Tobacco stocks soared on the news because the tobacco industry has recently suffered a string of defeats at the hands of the anti-tobacco lobby, and investors had feared that the litigation atmosphere had turned decisively against cigarette makers.

Daniel Donahu, senior vice-president and deputy general counsel for litigation at RJR Nabisco, US parent of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, said: The external pressures under which this case was tried provided one of the most advantageous backdrops to date for the plaintiffs lawyers. Throughout the trial, plaintiffs counsel attempted to capitalise on that atmosphere.

 

The tide first appeared to be turning against the industry last August, when Norwood Woody Wilner, the Florida lawyer who took up the Jean Connor case, won a jury award of $750,000 (