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Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. isn't responsible for a long-time smoker's 1986 death from lung cancer, a Texas jury said today in the first individual tobacco trial in the state.
Following about 10 hours deliberations, the jury in rural Beaumont -- less than two hours drive from Houston and home to several oil and chemical refineries -- voted, 10-2, to deny damages Wiley Grinnell's family. The verdict is the latest in a string of victories for the industry.
``The area around Beaumont is considered plaintiff friendly, making this decision an even more important victory for B&W and the industry,'' said Salomon Smith Barney analyst Martin Feldman. He has a ``buy'' rating on British American Tobacco's American depositary shares. . .
Jurors said they agreed with the tobacco company that Grinnell had adequate warning about the dangers of cigarettes. ``He had opportunities to quit smoking if he wanted to,'' said juror Delcie Thomas.
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Sam Cruse, attorney representing Brown & Williamson in the case said, "Today's verdict for the defense reflects recognition by the jury that the company acted responsibly. The jury's conclusions are consistent with the majority of court decisions, agreeing that smoking is a matter of personal choice."
The court victory is the sixth straight win for the tobacco company since Jan. 1.
Thomas Riley, also representing the company, noted that this was the third jury in as many months to find in favor of the company. "We will continue to vigorously defend ourselves in these cases and we are confident in the wisdom of future jurors to favor common sense regarding personal responsibility," he said.
rown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. should be held responsible for a longtime smoker's death, his lawyers told a state court jury today in the first individual suit against cigarette makers to go to trial in Texas.
In closing arguments in Beaumont, Texas, a lawyer for the deceased smoker's relatives said tobacco companies ``treated human life as just the price of doing business.''
``They knew that cigarettes caused lung cancer, they knew the danger of addiction,'' attorney Denman Heard told jurors. ``Every time they had a chance to share the truth with the American people, they lied.''
Brown & Williamson attorneys are scheduled to make closing arguments after a lunch break.
Attorneys for the family of a longtime Texas smoker are expected to present closing arguments Monday to a jury that will decide whether Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. is responsible for his 1986 death.
The state court trial, the first individual suit against the tobacco industry in Texas, could serve as a preview of how the individual smoker suits will fare in the state's courts, experts have said.
Wiley Grinnell and his family originally brought the suit in 1985 shortly before his death from lung cancer. . .
Beaumont ``is known as being more pro-plaintiff than other areas,'' said David Crump, a law professor at the University of Houston. However, ``these cases really do tend to defy prediction.''
Grinnell, who worked an assortment of jobs as a laborer, smoked mostly Lucky Strikes and Pall Malls. He started in 1952, before warning labels were placed on cigarette packages.
It was a different kind of jury panel. Last week more than 200 prospective jurors, about six times the usual number, were called to state District Judge Donald Floyd's court.
There were so many people it created a parking crunch in the Jefferson County Courthouse parking lots. . .
Fourteen jurors and alternates are needed for the case. The judge moved the jury pool to a large auditorium one floor below his small courtroom.
"This doesn't even feel like a courtroom," Floyd said. For one thing, the prospective jurors sometimes broke out in applause -- maybe inspired by the theaterlike setting.
Or maybe it was because Floyd announced a coffee break or told them they could go home for the day.
A jury will soon hear claims that Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. should be held responsible for the 1986 death of a long-time Texas smoker.
Lawyers began choosing a jury this week in state court in Beaumont, Texas, where the family of deceased smoker Wiley Grinnell seeks to hold Brown & Williamson, a unit of U.K.-based British American Tobacco Plc., responsible for his death. Opening statements are expected to begin early next week.
As the first known individual suit against the tobacco industry to go to trial in Texas, the Grinnell case could serve as a warning of how the industry will fare in the state's courts, said David Crump, a University of Houston law professor. . .
While cigarette makers have consistently told juries that the smokers should be held responsible for their own actions, Edward Sweda, a senior attorney at the Tobacco Products Liability Project, an anti-smoking group at Northeastern University's School of Law, said the tobacco industry needs to take responsibility for their own actions as well.
``This is about whether the plaintiffs will be successful getting the jury's attention (to) what was happening at the time (Grinnell) started smoking,'' Sweda said.
Tobacco's addictive nature will be on trial soon in a case that experts believe may set the standards for how lawsuits against tobacco companies are handled in Texas state courts.
Wiley Grinnell, a Beaumont furniture salesman who started smoking Lucky Strikes at age 19, sued the American Tobacco Co. in 1985 after being diagnosed with lung cancer. In less than a year, he was dead at age 53.
Now his widow and other family members are still waiting for resolution of his case.
What the jury decides in Beaumont may have a far bigger influence than just deciding if Grinnell's family is due any damages. "It will be the bellwether of how they settle other cases," predicted University of Houston law Professor David Crump, a civil litigation specialist.
The case has already gone to the Texas Supreme Court and back, and may well go there again. . .
It may be a long trial. Each side has more than 3,000 exhibits, and Floyd predicted that testimony will take at least a month.
Just picking a jury will be extraordinary. Last week, Floyd called a panel of 200 prospective jurors -- almost six times as many as are called for the usual civil trial in state district court. Floyd had to impanel the pool of jurors in an auditorium of the . .
Before he died, Grinnell testified in a deposition that he would have never started smoking if he had known how hard it would be for him to quit.
He began smoking, his original lawsuit said, because he associated cigarette smoking with "youth, sports, love, success, health, glamour and the wholesome outdoors." The cigarette company, he said, "failed to communicate the real symbols of smoking as being addictive."