Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 2, 1995 TAG: 9509050056
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: Short
While California law protects manufacturers against lawsuits for tobacco-related illness or death, 70-year-old Milton Horowitz's lawyers argued that smoking wasn't the issue.
The suit was a rare attempt to hold a company liable for asbestos in cigarettes, rather than for tobacco itself.
The jury Thursday awarded the Los Angeles psychologist $1.3 million in compensatory damages, which cover financial losses, pain and suffering. On Friday, the jury awarded him $700,000 in punitive damages, which are meant to punish misconduct and deter wrongdoing by others.
The American Cancer Society said it was only the second time a tobacco company lost a lawsuit over use of its products. A federal judge threw out the verdict in the first case, filed in 1983 in New Jersey.
``If this one holds up, this is really a pioneering approach,'' said Helen Jones, spokeswoman for the cancer group's San Francisco office. ``It's very encouraging.''
Horowitz alleged that Lorillard Tobacco Co. and Hollingsworth & Vose, a filter maker, exposed him to asbestos in the filters of Kent cigarettes. He has mesothelioma, a type of cancer frequently caused by asbestos.
Lorillard said it removed asbestos from its filters in 1956, but Jones said, ``It's hard to be sure about that. The tobacco industry never tells you about the additives.''
Lorillard will appeal, said company lawyer William Ohlemeyer. The company defeated four previous lawsuits about the filters, he said.
by CNB