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Decision reserved in case against tobacco companies 

Justice Graham Lang today reserved his decision in the case of Brandon and Kasey Pou, executors of their mother's estate, who are continuing their mother's litigation in seeking $310,966 in damages.

In the first week of the case video footage was shown to the court of Mrs Pou giving her evidence from her hospital bed in Dunedin the month before she die

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Pou family applauded for taking on tobacco giant 

Anti-smoking groups have congratulated Janice Pou and her family for taking action against two tobacco companies after their civil action in the High Court at Auckland closed yesterday. . . .

Justice Graham Lang yesterday reserved his decision in the case of Brandon and Kasey Pou, executors of their motherÂ's estate, who are continuing their motherÂ's litigation in seeking $310,966 in damages.

In the first week of the case, video footage was shown to the court of Mrs Pou giving her evidence from her hospital bed in Dunedin the month before she died.

Mrs Pou claimed when she began smoking in 1967, the tobacco companies had failed to warn her of the potential health dangers.

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• Parties await landmark smoking case 

Tobacco companies and anti-smoking groups are waiting nervously for the outcome of a landmark case brought by Invercargill woman Janice Pou.

The five week case has wound up with both sides clashing over whether it was common knowledge here in the 1960s that smoking was a serious health risk.

Cancer victim Pou vowed that smoking sent her to the grave and on Monday lawyers closed her case calling for two tobacco giants to be made accountable.

"They cannot logically allege a 17-year-old shop assistant in Invercargill must have known in 1968 along with the rest of the country that smoking was dangerous," says David Collins QC, lawyer for the Pou family. . . .

Now Judge Graham Lang must weigh up whether tobacco giants British American Tobacco and Wd and Ho Wills had a duty to warn New Zealanders, before 1974 when the first health notices popped up on cigarette packets.

"Common knowledge or obviousness are one and the same, you either know something by knowledge or you know something by seeing it...it's as simple as that...there is no duty to warn," defence lawyer Michael Camp says.

But Collins says that health warnings competed with a very sophisticated advertising campaign and denials from the industry that there was a causal link between smoking and lung cancer.

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• Closing arguments begin in Pou tobacco case 

Lawyers for the children of a dead Invercargill woman have begun their closing arguments in a landmark civil case against British American Tobacco. . . .

David Collins QC told the High Court in Auckland that the tobacco giant knew in 1968 when Ms Pou took up smoking, that it was addictive and could cause lung cancer but it had breached its responsibilities.

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• Final days in civil suit against tobacco companies 

A civil action against two tobacco companies is in its final stages in the High Court at Auckland.

The two children of Janice Pou, who died from lung cancer in September 2002, aged 51, took their mother's fight against tobacco companies British American Tobacco (NZ) and WD and HO Wills to the court four weeks ago.

Brandon and Kasey Pou, as executors of their mother's estate, are continuing her litigation seeking $310,966 in damages.

In the first week of the case video footage was shown to the court of Mrs Pou giving her evidence from her hospital bed in Dunedin the month before she died.

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• Pou's sister speaks of own addiction 

The 56-year-old has buried two sisters to lung cancer.

She had ducked out for a smoke after the stress of giving evidence for the estate of one of those sisters, in a landmark case for damages against British American Tobacco NZ and W.D. & H.O. Wills NZ.

When her sister Janice Pou was stressed she could smoke between 50 and 60 cigarettes a day. She died from lung cancer in September 2002.

Now her children Brandon and Kasey, as executors of her estate, are finishing her legal battle, claiming $310,966 in damages from the tobacco companies.

Mrs Toomata has come up from Invercargill to give her evidence and watched on the television news her sister speak from the grave. . . .

Her sister tried at least 20 times to give up, each attempt a "spectacular failure".

Janice Pou's older sister, Margaret Karipa, a smoker, died from lung cancer on October 31, 1998.

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Tearful evidence from woman in tobacco case 

Tearful video evidence from Janice Pou recorded while she was dying of lung cancer was played to the High Court in Auckland yesterday.

Pou, 51, was suing two tobacco companies when she was filmed on video at her Dunedin Hospital bed three years ago. . . .

In the video, Pou was propped upright in bed while being cross-examined by the defendants - British American Tobacco (NZ) and WD and HO Wills.

She spoke in a croaky whisper, between gasps for breath and gulps of water, describing how she was a "shy and introverted" teenager with a "poor self-image".

She said the cigarette advertising in the 1960s lured her into believing smoking was universal and sophisticated.

Tobacco companies had failed to warn her of the dangers associated with cigarette smoking, she said.

She broke down in tears when she described the "nightmare" she had lived with since being diagnosed with terminal cancer June 2001.

"No words are strong enough (to describe) a mixture of fear and sadness," Pou said.

"It makes me feel sick at heart when I think of all the events, weddings, birthdays, Christmases and the arrival of more grandchildren that I'll miss ... I love life."

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Tobacco companies to blame for mother's death, say children 

The Invercargill woman who began an civil action against a tobacco company before she died from lung cancer was "seduced" as a teenager by cigarette advertising, the High Court in Auckland was told yesterday. . . .

The Pous' lawyer David Collins QC, in his opening submission, said when their mother started smoking in 1967, the tobacco company had failed to fully warn her of potential health dangers.

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• Tobacco case hears dangers well documented before Pou took up smoking 

A hearing at the High Court at Auckland has heard how the health dangers of smoking were well documented before Invercargill woman Janice Pou took up smoking as a teenager. . . .

In a cross-examination videotaped in the last weeks of her life, British American Tobacco lawyers presented Mrs Pou with a number of newspaper articles reporting that smoking causes lung cancer.

Mrs Pou said she never noticed any such stories.

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• Glamour of tobacco 'directed at young' 

A landmark lawsuit by the children of a woman who died of lung cancer will examine whether tobacco companies aimed their advertising at young women in the 1960s and 70s by using glamorous images and sports stars.

Janice Pou was 17 when she started smoking in 1968 and within a year she had a 25-plus-a-day habit. Before she died in 2002 she resolved to take a case against the companies that made and sold her cigarettes. . . .

In opening submissions, the Pous' lawyer David Collins, QC, said their case was that in 1967 the tobacco companies had a duty to warn Mrs Pou of the possible addiction and dangers associated with smoking.

Alternatively, they had a duty to stop manufacturing and distributing products they knew, or ought to have known, were dangerous.

Mr Collins read Mrs Pou's evidence - submitted from her hospital bed before her death - in which she said she had started smoking because she "wanted to look and feel cool and glamorous". . . .

"Janice Pou also believed statements made by the defendants in which they persistently denied that their products were harmful or endeavoured to cast doubt on the veracty of warnings from responsible authorities." . . . "The defendants also systematically denied that there was any connection between their product and diseases such as lung cancer till comparatively recently. The defendants' denials and their attempts to debate the scientific and medical facts only served to reinforce her belief that cigarettes were not dangerous.

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Videotape Played In Tobacco Case 

The High Court at Auckland, which is hearing a case against British American Tobacco, is viewing taped evidence from Invercargill woman Janice Pou in the final weeks of her life.

Mrs Pou lodged a $310,000 claim for damages against the tobacco giant before her death from lung cancer in 2002.

Her children, Brandon and Kasey Pou, are continuing the action as they blame the company for their mother's death.

In a raspy and at times barely audible voice, Janice Pou explained how a 34-year long smoking addiction dominated her life. . . .

She spoke at length of how she was influenced by tobacco ads in the 1960s, which portrayed smoking as a glamorous thing to do.

She tried to give up about 20 times but simply couldn't do it.

Mrs Pou described early health warnings on cigarette packets as "airy fairy", saying by that time she was severely addicted.

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• Video-taped evidence played in tobacco case 

Video-taped evidence from a woman six weeks before her death from lung cancer was played today during the civil action suit against a tobacco company in the High Court at Auckland.

Janice Pou was diagnosed with cancer in June 2001 and died on September 2002, aged 51. . . .

Mrs Pou's evidence was recorded on August 6, 2002, in Invercargill District Court, and also from her hospital bed on August 12.

She spoke with a croaky whisper, in between gasps for breath and gulps of water, describing how she was a "shy and introverted" teenager with a "poor self-image".

She said the cigarette advertising in the 1960s lured her into believing smoking was universal and sophisticated.

Mrs Pou, the youngest of eight children, said she desperately wanted to be beautiful and mature, and the various advertisements for Capstan and Topaz cigarettes shown in the print media, billboards and in the movies depicted a glamorous world removed from Invercargill.

"I remember a very seductive scene of a beautiful woman lying on her back, and a handsome man lighting her cigarette. Capstan ads had a nautical theme with strong, handsome, rugged men and they all seemed so successful and glamorous," she said.

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I remember a very seductive scene of a beautiful woman lying on her back, and a handsome man lighting her cigarette. Capstan ads had a nautical theme with strong, handsome, rugged men and they all seemed so successful and glamorous.
Janice Pou's deathbed video, taken 6 weeks before her death from lung cancer, aged 51.

• Death bed video to be shown in landmark tobacco case 

The High Court in Auckland hearing a landmark case against British American Tobacco will be shown taped evidence today from the dying woman who filed the claim.

Invercargill woman Janice Pou lodged a $310,000 claim for damages against the tobacco giant before her death from lung cancer in 2002.

Her children Brandon and Kasey Pou are continuing the civil action.

Lawyers say that in the tape, Ms Pou explains how as a 17-year old, she saw cigarette advertising, and formed the view that smoking was sophisticated and glamorous.

She says in none of these ads was there any hint smoking was addictive or bad for her health.

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• Tobacco companies to blame for mother's death, say children 

The Invercargill woman who began an civil action against a tobacco company before she died from lung cancer was "seduced" as a teenager by cigarette advertising, the High Court in Auckland was told yesterday.

Janice Pou was diagnosed with cancer in June 2001 and died on September 2002, aged 51.

She had smoked between 25 and 30 cigarettes a day for 35 years.

Early in 2002, Mrs Pou watched a documentary that suggested tobacco companies in New Zealand had resisted efforts to reduce smoking, the court was told.

She decided the "last major role in life would be to bring this proceeding against the tobacco companies". . . .

She said she was unaware of any dangers with smoking when she began, particularly because the tobacco company used sports stars Peter Snell and Don Clarke to promote their product.

"(She) believed that if leading sports people endorsed tobacco products then cigarettes could not possibly be harmful", Mr Collins said.

He said Mrs Pou described her attempts to give up smoking as "spectacular failures".

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Landmark Case Of Tobacco Company Liability Starts 

The High Court at Auckland has heard that a smoker who died from lung cancer spent $180,000, based on the current value of cigarettes, in a lifetime of smoking.

Today is the opening day of a landmark case being taken by the children of an Invercargill woman, Janice Pou, against British American Tobacco.

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