
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 22, 1995                   TAG: 9511220096
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOUISVILLE, KY.                                LENGTH: Medium

TOBACCO COMPANY SUES

A tobacco executive whose interview with ``60 Minutes'' was spiked for legal reasons was sued for theft, fraud and breach of contract Tuesday by his former employer, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.

Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, former vice president of research for the Louisville-based company, reportedly said in the CBS interview that B&W had scrapped plans to make a safer cigarette and continued to use a flavoring in pipe tobacco that was known to cause cancer in laboratory animals.

He also claimed that B&W lawyers altered documents in an attempt to delete any references to the company's efforts at making a safer cigarette.

CBS pulled the segment because of legal concerns, but portions of the interview were leaked last week to the New York Daily News. Brown & Williamson accused CBS of leaking the transcript, an allegation that CBS News President Eric Ober denied.

``Our complaint demonstrates that Mr. Wigand has an appalling disregard for the law,'' said Gary Morrisroe, attorney for Brown & Williamson.

After the suit was filed, Circuit Judge William Knopf issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Wigand from talking about any confidential documents. A hearing was set for Monday.

Brown & Williamson contends Wigand signed a confidentiality agreement under which he agreed not to divulge ``competitively sensitive'' information. The lawsuit alleges he held onto such documents after he was fired in 1993.

``Wigand personally profited from B&W information that he unlawfully possessed,'' Morrisroe said. ``While under a pledge of confidentiality and receiving severance payments and outplacement help from B&W, Wigand was secretly selling himself as an `expert' witness in lawsuits against the tobacco industry.''

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Wigand was paid $12,000 as a consultant on a ``60 Minutes'' report in 1994. Ober said the fee was for an unrelated story on cigarettes posing a fire hazard.

Wigand, now a high school chemistry and Japanese teacher, wasn't immediately available for comment at his Louisville home.

The suit was filed after two anti-tobacco congressmen - Democratic Reps. Ron Wyden and Henry Waxman - asked House Commerce Committee chairman Thomas Bliley on Monday to investigate Wigand's allegations.

Wigand is cooperating with Mississippi's attorney general in a lawsuit against the tobacco industry.

by CNB