Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509180081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: PALM BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
But the most consequential attacks on the tobacco industry are now building to a climax in the nation's courts, several experts told lawyers involved in anti-tobacco lawsuits.
``It's a sleeping volcano just waiting to explode,'' Daniel Becnel Jr. said Thursday during a tobacco litigation conference. ``The tobacco industry has two choices - they either are going to lose this litigation or we are going to break their backs fighting this litigation.''
The industry has been slapped with at least a dozen major lawsuits, including a landmark $1.4 billion action in Florida. Activists say they intend to weaken and eventually destroy tobacco companies through a barrage of expensive suits and settlements.
Becnel, a Louisiana attorney, is active in a class action filed in New Orleans federal court that accuses cigarette manufacturers of deceiving Americans about the dangers of smoking and the addictive nature of nicotine.
He said one of the most significant developments in recent months has been the informal formation of a coalition between doctors and lawyers involved in anti-smoking issues.
``Doctors are getting tired of telling wives, widows and children of smokers about the catastrophic costs of tobacco,'' Becnel told about 35 lawyers and others attending the two-day conference at the Breakers Hotel.
Ahron Leichtman, an anti-tobacco activist, told the group that he and other crusaders have surrendered any hope of assistance from Congress. A study published last week by The New York Times found that the tobacco industry has funneled more than $1.5 million to Republican Party treasuries this year, a fivefold increase over last year.
``Congress has done nothing and will do nothing to regulate the tobacco industry,'' said Leichtman, founder of Citizens for A Tobacco-free Society and an architect of the campaign that banned smoking on domestic airline flights.
``Only after lawyers defeat the industry in court will it be possible to ban or further restrict tobacco advertising'' and stem the increase in smoking by teenagers.
Some progress has been achieved on the legal front, the activists said. Two weeks ago, a California jury awarded $2 million to a former smoker who claimed that his rare form of lung cancer was caused by asbestos in the filters of Kent cigarettes.
Lorillard Inc., manufacturer of Kents, was ordered to pay $1.21 million of the award - a rare legal setback for the industry, which denies that tobacco is harmful or that nicotine is addictive. The company said it would appeal.
Three significant anti-tobacco suits are under way in Florida. Two class actions - one for addicted smokers and one for flight attendants allegedly made ill by secondhand smoke - have been filed by Miami attorney Stanley Rosenblatt.
In addition, the state seeks to recover the $1.4 billion cost of treating Medicaid patients suffering from smoking-related illnesses.
by CNB