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Smoker's Lawsuit Is Rejected in Norway 

Norway's Supreme Court ruled Friday that the tobacco industry was not responsible for a smoker's death from cancer in the country's first tobacco compensation lawsuit.

Robet Lund died at age 67 in October 2000 from lung cancer. Before his death, he sued Norway's biggest tobacco company, Tiedemanns Tobaksfabrikk AS, alleging the company was aware of the health risks its produts caused.

He smoked Tiedemanns' products before he was diagnosed with cancer, and said the company should have warned him of the dangers.

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• Norway Supreme Crt Rejects Smoker's Suit Vs Tobacco Indus 

Norway's Supreme Court ruled Friday that the tobacco industry wasn't responsible for a smoker's death from cancer in the country's first tobacco compensation lawsuit.

Robert Lund died at age 67 in October 2000 from lung cancer. Before his death, he sued Norway's biggest tobacco company, Tiedemanns Tobaksfabrikk AS, alleging the company was aware of the health risks its products caused. . . .

In its unanimous ruling, the high court said knowledge of the risk of smoking was so widespread after 1964 "and was given so much attention in the media" that Lund must have known the dangers.

It said it could therefore only consider whether he could have known before 1964, and whether the tobacco industry may have had responsibility for health damage during that period.

"In that period, medical science got clearer and clearer evidence that there was a direct connection between cigarette smoking and lung cancer and other serious health problems," the ruling said. . . .

"The demands and expectations that consumers have today about information on possible harmful aspects of a product cannot be transferred to the situation during the 10 years that preceded 1964."

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The demands and expectations that consumers have today about information on possible harmful aspects of a product cannot be transferred to the situation during the 10 years that preceded 1964.
Norway's Supreme Court, in its unanimous ruling dismissing the Lund suit.

• Family loses fight against tobacco firm 

Norway's highest court Friday turned down an appeal from the widow of a longtime smoker who'd claimed that tobacco firm Tiedemanns had addicted him to its product. The ruling cleared Tiedemanns of any liability.

Robert Lund was the first smoker in Scandinavia to sue a tobacco company. He lost on all counts. . . .

Norway's Supreme Court, however, ruled Friday that each side must pay for its own costs.

It was the only bit of relief for Lund's family.

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• Norwegian Smoker Loses Case 

The Orkdal District Court said the smoker, Robert Lund, continued to smoke even after the dangers of smoking "became broadly known and accepted" and said tobacco's addictiveness did not free him from responsibility for continuing to smoke. . .

Lund was terminally ill when he sued Norway's largest tobacco company, Tiedemanns Tobaksfabrikk AS, for compensation. He had smoked Tiedemanns products before he was diagnosed with cancer and blamed them for his ill health. He said the company should have warned him of the dangers. . .

"The impact of the acquittal is that the individual smoker and not the manufacturer carries the responsibility of any smoking related diseases," parent company Skandinavisk Tobakkskompagni AS said in a statement.

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The impact of the acquittal is that the individual smoker and not the manufacturer carries the responsibility of any smoking related diseases.
Skandinavisk Tobakkskompagni AS, parent company of Norway's largest tobacco company, Tiedemanns Tobaksfabrikk AS, in a statement on the Lund verdict. Mellgren, D., <I>Norwegian Smoker Loses Case</I>

• Smoker Dies Before Verdict 

The first Norwegian smoker to sue the tobacco industry for compensation died as a result of cancer this weekend before learning the verdict in his case.

Robert Lund, 67, died at his home in Kyrksaeteroera, near the coastal city of Trondheim and 300 miles northwest of Oslo, on Sunday. The local Orkdal District Court was expected to announce its ruling in his case as early as this week.

``No matter what happens, I have won, because the message has been made clear: Tobacco kills,'' Lund was quoted as telling newspapers about two weeks before his death. . .

Lund, who smoked until his death, was terminally ill with lung cancer that had spread to his brain when he sued Norway's largest tobacco concern, Tiedemanns Tobakksfabrikk AS. . .

Lund's attorney, Edmund Asboell, said that Lund's death should not affect the ruling, because court hearings had been completed on Oct. 17.

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