ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 29, 1997 TAG: 9703310039
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: JACKSON, MISS.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The family of Burl Butler is also seeking the documents for use in a lawsuit against the industry.
Mississippi's Supreme Court blocked the release Friday of hundreds of files that the Liggett Group agreed to turn over when it broke ranks with the tobacco industry over the dangers of smoking.
A lower-court judge on Wednesday had ordered the release of the files for use by the plaintiffs in a second-hand smoking lawsuit.
But the high court put that on hold until at least April 11 while it considers objections from the nation's four other major tobacco companies, which want the records permanently sealed.
Liggett, the maker of Chesterfield and L&M cigarettes, agreed in a settlement with 22 states last week to turn over internal documents and acknowledge that smoking is addictive and causes cancer.
Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore intends to use the material in a lawsuit he filed against cigarette manufacturers seeking to recoup millions of tax dollars spent on treating tobacco-related illnesses.
In addition, the family of Burl Butler of Laurel is seeking some of the documents for use in a $650 million lawsuit against the industry. Butler died in 1994 of lung cancer that his family claims was caused by exposure to second-hand smoke in his barber shop. Butler did not smoke.
Four major tobacco companies - Philip Morris Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Lorillard Tobacco Co. and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. - have argued that the records are privileged legal discussions.
T. Roe Frazer, a lawyer for the Butler family, said in advance of the ruling that tobacco companies would ``stop at nothing to keep these documents from being produced, which tells me that these documents must be unbelievably revealing.''
``These documents are literally what plaintiffs need to prove that the tobacco defendants have not been telling the truth about a lot of things - the danger of second-hand smoke, additives in tobacco, about advertising campaigns to hook young people,'' he said.
According to the appeal, the documents sought in the second-hand smoking case include correspondence between tobacco companies and memoranda detailing legal advice discussed at meetings with tobacco executives and lawyers.
The topics included congressional and Federal Trade Commission hearings, FTC litigation, proposed legislation, discussions of a surgeon general's report, possible requirements for warning labels, advertising and research.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB