Tobacco.org

Missouri Jury Rules in Favor of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Smoking and Health Lawsuit 

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company applauds the near unanimous verdict handed down today by a jury in Independence, Mo., in favor of R.J. Reynolds and other cigarette manufacturers named in an individual smoking and health case. Eighty year old William A. VanDenBurg claimed that smoking cigarettes for more than 30 years caused him to develop lung cancer. He sought $15 million in compensatory damages.

"We are pleased with the jury's verdict," says J. Jeffery Raborn, senior counsel for R.J. Reynolds. "They carefully listened to, and evaluated, the evidence presented and made the correct decision."

VanDenBurg alleged the defendants did not adequately warn consumers about the health risks of smoking, and conspired to withhold medical and scientific information regarding the health effects of cigarette smoking.

"According to his own testimony, Mr. VanDenBurg acknowledged that no statement made by the cigarette manufacturers, including the warnings on their cigarette packages and advertisements, had any effect on his smoking behavior," Raborn says. "The jury applied its common sense and determined the plaintiff made an informed decision to smoke."

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• Jury clears tobacco companies in cancer case 

The jurors wanted to do something for William VanDenBurg, the 80-year-old survivor of Iwo Jima who was diagnosed with lung cancer after decades of smoking cigarettes.

But after sorting through the evidence, they couldn't blame the tobacco companies that made and sold those cigarettes.

After a seven-week trial in Jackson County Circuit Court, a jury Wednesday decided 11-1 that companies such as Brown & Williamson, Philip Morris USA and RJ Reynolds were not responsible for VanDenBurg's health problems.

VanDenBurg, a retired postal carrier from Independence, was disappointed with the verdict in Judge W. Stephen Nixon's courtroom but said he could handle it. . . .

But jurors kept going back to VanDenBurg's own testimony that it was his choice to smoke.

VanDenBurg's attorney, Ken McClain, said he has been successful in four of six cases against tobacco companies. He said the evidence in this case was stronger than in cases he had won.

"They didn't find liability on his (VanDenBurg's) part, and they (tobacco companies) weren't liable, so who caused this?" McClain asked.

VanDenBurg's claims basically boiled down to two issues: that cigarette makers conspired and concealed information from VanDenBurg, and that they designed defective products that led to his health problems. . . .

Jurors understood such evidence, Becker said, and believed there might not have been full disclosure by the cigarette companies.

"But the bottom line it still comes down to -- everybody knows smoking is bad for you," he said. . . .

Attorney Jeffrey L. Furr, whose firm represented Brown & Williamson and RJ Reynolds, had told jurors that the plaintiffs failed to show any medical evidence that cigarettes caused VanDenBurg's cancer. Jurors said that weighed heavily in their decision.

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• Jury rejects Missouri man's lawsuit against tobacco makers 

Jurors rejected claims Wednesday that tobacco makers were responsible for an 80-year-old man's lung cancer and other health problems.

William VanDenBurg, a retired mail carrier and Iwo Jima survivor from the Kansas City suburb of Independence, blamed smoking for his poor health. But a seven-week trial in a state court didn't convince the jury, which returned its verdict a day after receiving the case.

"The jury applied its common sense and determined the plaintiff made an informed decision to smoke," said J. Jeffery Raborn, senior counsel for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which was sued along with Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co., Philip Morris USA Inc. and other tobacco makers. . . .

"In other situations jurors have been open to the evidence. In this case they were not," said McClain, who has won five other tobacco suits and reached settlements in two more. "Despite whatever reasons were given, ultimately it comes down to whether jurors were or were not willing to listen."

Anthony Sebok, a Brooklyn Law School professor and Princeton University law fellow, said public opinion has dramatically shifted since tobacco cases were first fought. In the end, though, it all depends on the jury.

"It becomes a tug of war, in some sense, in a jury's mind whether or not their dislike of the tobacco industry's practices outweighs the dislike of people who assume a certain risk and then ask for money afterward," Sebok said.

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• After weeks of testimony, tobacco lawsuit nears end 

Closing arguments began Friday in a lawsuit pitting an Independence man who survived Iwo Jima against several large tobacco companies.

William VanDenBurg, 80, sued Brown & Williamson Tobacco, Philip Morris USA, RJ Reynolds and other cigarette makers. He said cigarettes had caused his lung cancer and other chronic health problems.

The case in Jackson County Circuit Court, which has lasted about seven weeks, included testimony from Jeffrey Wigand, a tobacco industry whistleblower portrayed in the movie "The Insider."

VanDenBurg is being represented by Ken McClain, a lawyer who has won large verdicts against the tobacco industry.

In closing arguments, McClain painted the tobacco companies as part of an evil industry that not only was aware of the addictive, harmful nature of cigarettes, but also tried to conceal those dangers from the public and market their products to children.

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