Tobacco.org

• Tobacco case judge grants TP request 

The judge in the Civil District Court trial that yielded a $591 million jury verdict against the nation's biggest tobacco companies agreed Friday to grant The Times-Picayune's request for access to documents that were filed under seal.

Judge Richard Ganucheau ordered that lawyers must promptly hand over documents that the newspaper requests in writing. The judge also opened the way for the newspaper to obtain transcripts of hearings about the documents.

None of those documents were available by Friday evening.

But other documents filed in the case provide new insights into why tobacco lawyers are seeking to recuse Ganucheau from a portion of the case. The tobacco lawyers sought to have Ganucheau removed from presiding in a hearing to determine whether tobacco jury consultants acted improperly in questioning jurors after their May 21 verdict. The hearing was requested after Gauncheau had ordered the consultants to stop. The motion to recuse Ganucheau was denied by another judge, Ethel Simms Julien.

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Judge grants Times-Picayune request for documents in tobacco case 

A judge has granted a request from The Times-Picayune for access to documents that were filed under seal in the $591 million jury verdict trial against the nation's biggest tobacco companies.

Judge Richard Ganucheau ordered lawyers to hand over the documents, helping the newspaper obtain transcripts of hearings about the documents.

Other documents show why tobacco lawyers are seeking to recuse Ganucheau from a portion of the case. . . .

The documents show that the tobacco lawyers are trying to resume questioning the jurors because they believe the jurors were told they were under a noon deadline to return their May 21 verdict. The lawyers want to resume interviewing jurors to determine why they thought there was a deadline but Ganucheau on Friday denied their motion.

According to another document, Ganucheau and his staff may have tampered with the jury before the verdict, the tobacco lawyers say.

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Appeals could begin soon for quit-smoking verdict 07/01/04 

A judge has cleared the way for the nation's four biggest tobacco companies and their public relations arm to appeal a jury order to pay $591 million for quit-smoking programs.

Retired State District Judge Richard Ganucheau upheld the jury's verdict Wednesday. Ganucheau also said the tobacco companies must put the amount of the judgment, plus $300 million in interest, in a court trust.

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• Judge backs jury on tobacco verdict 

Clearing the way for appeals, a retired judge Wednesday upheld a jury verdict that the nation's four biggest tobacco companies and their public relations arm must pay $591 million for a 10-year program to help more than 500,000 Louisianians quit smoking.

The action makes the decision final. In upholding the verdict, retired Judge Richard Ganucheau also said the tobacco companies must place the amount of the judgment, plus interest, in a court trust until the judgment is paid. Both sides agree that the interest now stands at $300 million or more.

The defendants are expected to ask Ganucheau to reverse his decision or grant a new trial of the eight-year-old Louisiana smokers' class-action lawsuit. . . .

If Ganucheau refuses the defendants' requests, the appeals process will be triggered. Plaintiffs' attorney Ruses Herman hope the appeals can be fast-tracked under a law he said applies to litigants in danger of dying before their cases are concluded. . . .

To appeal the verdict, the defendants will have to post a bond set by Ganucheau.

There was disagreement Wednesday about the size of the bond.

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• Unseal tobacco pleadings, TP urges 

The Times-Picayune on Friday asked a Civil District Court judge to unseal pleadings in an eight-year legal battle between four tobacco companies and a class of about 500,000 Louisiana smokers.

The pleadings were sealed without a chance for the public to argue against secrecy and without a detailed explanation from the court of why the interests of confidentiality outweigh the public's right of access to court records, according to motion papers filed by the newspaper. . .

Friday's motion is the second time this week the newspaper has gone to court to fight against secrecy orders in the tobacco case.

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• Judge in tobacco case won't be sidelined for hearing 

A judge who oversaw the eight-year legal battle between four tobacco companies and a class of about 500,000 Louisiana smokers should be recused from a hearing on whether defense consultants acted properly in questioning jurors about their $599 million verdict, tobacco company lawyers said.

Thursday, a second judge declined to disqualify retired Civil District Judge Richard Ganucheau, who presided over the legal struggle featuring some of the city's leading defense and plaintiff attorneys.

Civil District Judge Ethel Sims Julien excluded the public Thursday from her courtroom as she considered whether to disqualify Ganucheau.

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• Judge will stay on tobacco case 

The judge in a lawsuit that won $599 million for quit-smoking programs in Louisiana should be removed from a hearing on whether the defense acted properly in questioning jurors about their verdict, tobacco company attorneys say.

On Thursday, Civil District Judge Ethel Sims Julien refused to remove retired judge Richard Ganucheau from the case.

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• Judge in tobacco case won't be sidelined for hearing 

A judge who oversaw the eight-year legal battle between four tobacco companies and a class of about 500,000 Louisiana smokers should be recused from a hearing on whether defense consultants acted properly in questioning jurors about their $599 million verdict, tobacco company lawyers said.

Thursday, a second judge declined to disqualify retired Civil District Judge Richard Ganucheau, who presided over the legal struggle featuring some of the city's leading defense and plaintiff attorneys.

Civil District Judge Ethel Sims Julien excluded the public Thursday from her courtroom as she considered whether to disqualify Ganucheau.

At the urging of attorneys on both sides of the case, and over objections from The Times-Picayune, Julien ruled that only participants in the case could be present when she heard arguments on a defense request that she sideline Ganucheau and have another judge named to investigate the jury questioning.

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Baldwin law firm active in tobacco suit 

Smokers who are desperately trying to kick the cigarette habit have been avenged, partially due to a Marshall law firm.

 A New Orleans jury has awarded $590 million to plaintiffs who sued Phillip Morris, RJ Reynolds and other tobacco companies, and Marshall's Baldwin and Baldwin was one of 55 law firms that participated in the case.

 Scott Baldwin Sr. and sons, Scott Jr. and Jack, and their law firm partners, sought damages . . .

 Lawyers who prepared and fought the case in court -- one that took two years of litigation -- will be paid for their work, but Scott Baldwin Jr. said he is uncertain how much each firm will collect. Baldwin and Baldwin helped with trial preparation, not court argument.

 Baldwin said he believes that tobacco companies will appeal the verdict, and none of the law firms will be paid until higher courts have ruled, assuming that the verdict is affirmed.

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Tobacco stocks fall on legal setbacks 

Shares of cigarette makers declined Monday on legal setbacks delivered by a Louisiana jury and a federal judge.

U.S. stocks close higher but Altria holds back Dow GE's Genworth IPO prices below $21-$23 range Bush poll numbers at lowest of presidency Spitzer sues ex-NYSE chief over excessive pay Oil, gasoline close at all-time highs on supply fears

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Tobacco Verdict to Help Users Kick Habit 

A jury in New Orleans on Friday ordered U.S. tobacco companies to spend $591 million to assist Louisiana smokers who want to kick the habit, marking the first time the industry has been directed to help its customers quit. . . .

Ed Sweda, a senior attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project, a Boston-based group that promotes lawsuits, said he was delighted with the outcome and hoped that it "can be replicated in other states."

It's unclear whether the verdict will trigger similar filings elsewhere. Numerous state and federal courts have rejected class certification for tobacco suits, with the Louisiana suit being one of the few to gain class-action status.

Another, filed on behalf of California smokers and pending in San Diego, accuses the industry of false advertising and seeks disgorgement of profits. Should the case succeed, the court would have to decide whether to earmark proceeds for smoking cessation or other purposes.

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Scott Phase 2 Verdict Backgrounder 

Edward Sweda, Senior Attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University noted: "This was an historic victory for Louisiana smokers.  Last July, the jury found that the tobacco companies addicted these smokers through their reprehensible conduct and now must pay to un-addict them."

Mark Gottlieb, also an attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project observed that, "The real winners here are the taxpayers of Louisiana. This smoking cessation program will mean fewer smokers on the state's Medicaid program suffering from cancer, heart disease, and emphysema.  This jury's award points to how underfunded tobacco cessation and education programs are around the country despite the billions of dollars paid to the states by the tobacco companies after the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement.  When a jury hearing the evidence determines that it will cost half a billion dollars top help Louisiana Smokers to quit, it shows that the average state expenditure on tobacco control of $10.4 million per year is woefully inadequate."

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• Jury tells tobacco firms to pay up 

In the first verdict of its kind in the nation, a New Orleans jury decided Friday that four big tobacco companies should pay $591 million for a comprehensive, 10-year smoking-cessation program for a half-million or so of their Louisiana customers.

Until the Civil District Court jury's ruling, which ended trial of an 8-year-old Louisiana smokers' class action lawsuit against the companies, no U.S. jury in a tobacco liability case had ever ordered relief in the form of a program to help people stop smoking. . . .

"This is a great day for the health of hundreds of thousands of people addicted to smoking in Louisiana," said plaintiffs' lead counsel Russ Herman.

Though Herman and his colleagues did not get everything they sought -- a program that would have lasted 25 years and cost $1.1 billion -- they said the 10-year version settled on by the jury will nevertheless help thousands of people addicted to smoking and greatly increase the number of lives saved from smoking-related diseases.

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Tobacco firms 'help smokers quit' 

The tobacco industry in the United States has been ordered to pay $591m to anti-smoking programmes.

A Louisiana jury found that various cigarette firms lied about the dangers of tobacco and targeted teenagers.

The $591m is destined to be spent on nicotine patches, helplines, and other projects to help smokers quit.

The case is thought to be the first in which the defendants have been ordered to pay for such projects. Indiviual smokers will not receive payments.

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Scott Jury Verdict Goes Against Tobacco Industry 

Jeff Raborn, an attorney for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, one of the defendants in the case, said the plantiffs' program would result in "nothing more than the creation of another hugely over-bloated bureaucracy.

"We are obviously disappointed with this verdict," Raborn said, "and we will appeal."

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