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4th Jury Rejects Tobacco Lawsuit 

Nunnally's lawsuit claimed that her late husband, Joseph Lee Nunnally, 37, developed cancer in 1987 after smoking cigarettes from the time he was a child.

"I really don't know what to think," she said after the verdict was read. "Cigarettes are defective."

Mike Ulmer of Jackson, attorney for R.J. Reynolds, said he was pleased jurors didn't believe claims that the cigarette maker's products were defective.

Lin Winkle, a juror from Olive Branch, said all 12 jurors agreed Joseph Lee Nunnally knew that cigarettes were dangerous.

She said if jurors had been asked to determine whether R.J. Reynolds' cigarettes were deadly and not defective, then the outcome would have been different.

"The verdict would have been yes," she said. "They would have agreed to that."

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• Jury in Mississippi Finds R.J. Reynolds Not Responsible for Death of a Smoker 

Local counsel for RJR, Michael Ulmer, of the Jackson, Miss., firm Watkins & Eager, said DeSoto County jurors accepted his client's argument that individuals are responsible for their choices and assume the risk when they engage in dangerous behavior.

Jack F. Dunbar, an attorney in Oxford, Miss., said DeSoto County is known as a conservative venue. "They're very, very tough jurors" for plaintiffs, he said. . .

Because Mr. Nunnally died before the suit was filed, defense lawyers never had an opportunity to learn when he began smoking Reynolds brands or what, if anything, RJR did to induce him to smoke. As a result, plaintiffs were allowed to present only minimal evidence about alleged company wrongdoing and nothing about its alleged efforts to target young smokers, said plaintiffs attorney Charles Merkel, of the Clarksdale, Miss., firm Merkel & Cocke.

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• R.J. Reynolds Wins Mississippi Lawsuit 

Joseph Nunnally began smoking sometime between the ages of eight and 10, just a couple of years before health warnings started appearing on packages. He died in 1989 at age 37.

``It would have been more of a surprise if the industry had lost this case rather than having won it,'' Martin Feldman, tobacco analyst with Salomon Smith Barney, said after the verdict was announced. ``The industry has generally done well within the heartland of America.''

``It really is a good bellwether test on the issue of personal responsibility, in terms of smokers willingly taking and knowingly taking the risk when they smoke,'' Sanford C. Bernstein analyst William Pecoriello said.

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R.J. Reynolds Cleared in Mississippi Smoker's Trial (Update2) 

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. is not responsible for the death of a father of four who began smoking at age 10, a Mississippi jury decided.

The jury, deliberating since yesterday in a trial that began June 23, rejected claims that Joe Nunnally's lung cancer entitles his family to damages.

``What the jury said is that people understand the risks,'' said Martin Feldman, an analyst with Salomon Smith Barney.

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Miss. Tobacco Suit Rejected 

A jury rejected a $102 million wrongful death suit Wednesday filed against a tobacco company by the widow of a longtime smoker who died of lung cancer. . .

``Nobody made him smoke,'' Reynolds' attorney Mike Ulmer said of Joseph Nunnally in his closing argument. ``He had a right to choose and that's what this case is all about.''

A defense expert witness, Dr. George Seiden of Shreveport, La., a psychiatrist, had testified that his experience and review of Nunnally's medical records led him to believe that Nunnally knew the hazards of smoking and could have stopped smoking if he had felt motivated to do so.

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• R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Pleased with Nunnally Verdict 

A Hernando, Miss., jury today returned a verdict in favor of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJRT) in the Nunnally case, a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the widow of a smoker. The verdict follows a similar decision by a Brooklyn, N.Y., jury in June. . .

``This jury agreed that this case boiled down to two simple issues,'' said Michael W. Ulmer, lead RJRT counsel for the Nunnally case. ``First, the plaintiff did not offer any evidence that the cigarettes Mr. Nunnally smoked were in any way defective. They offered nothing to the jury to support the notion that there was any feasible, safer alternative cigarette design that would have been used by Mr. Nunnally and that would have prevented his cancer.

``Second, the jurors understood that smokers, including Mr. Nunnally, have long been aware of the well-known and inherent risks of smoking, and that people who choose to smoke in the face of these known risks should not be financially rewarded.''

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First, the plaintiff did not offer any evidence that the cigarettes Mr. Nunnally smoked were in any way defective. They offered nothing to the jury to support the notion that there was any feasible, safer alternative cigarette design that would have been used by Mr. Nunnally and that would have prevented his cancer.
Michael W. Ulmer, lead RJRT counsel for the Nunnally case. <I>R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Pleased with Nunnally Verdict</I>

R.J. Reynolds Says Jury Rules in Its Favor 

A Mississippi jury on Wednesday ruled in favor of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in a wrongful death suit brought by the widow of a man who smoked the company's cigarettes, Reynolds said. . .

Plaintiff Kay Nunnally, widow of Joseph Lee Nunnally, alleged that her husband's use of Reynolds cigarette brands caused him to develop lung cancer, resulting in his death.

``This jury agreed that this case boiled down to two simple issues,'' Michael Ulmer, R.J. Reynolds' lead counsel for the case, said in a statement. ``First, the plaintiff did not offer any evidence that the cigarettes Mr. Nunnally smoked were in any way defective. They offered nothing to the jury to support the notion that there was any feasible, safer alternative cigarette design that would have been used by Mr. Nunnally and that would have prevented his cancer.''

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Tobacco jury deliberates 

HERNANDO - A DeSoto County jury began deliberations Tuesday in a $102 million wrongful death suit filed by the widow of a longtime smoker who died in 1989 of lung cancer.

Closing arguments ended at about 4:30 p.m. Circuit Court Judge George Carlson Jr. sent jurors into closed chambers and dismissed the four alternates.

A court employee said all four told her they would find in favor of the tobacco company.

''It was easy for them to make a decision,'' said the employee, who would not give her name. ''Based on that, I don't expect the jury to take long.''

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• Tobacco Trial May Go To Jury Today 

In an effort to shorten the trial, lawyers for both sides agreed to a number of stipulations that will be presented as facts for the jury to consider.

The stipulations include: warnings on cigarette packages since 1966; a statement that nicotine is naturally occurring; that Nunnally's parents smoked; that R. J. Reynolds legally sold cigarettes in Mississippi, and that no alternative cigarette design would have reduced the risk to Joe Nunnally's health as much as quitting smoking would have.

In testimony Monday, Dr. Thomas L. Bennett, a forensic pathologist and former Mississippi medical examiner, testified the large tumor was more likely a sarcoma than a carcinoma.

Sarcomas are not thought to be related to smoking . . .

Bennett, who has testified in two previous tobacco cases and served as a consultant in two more, said he receives $150 an hour for reviewing documents and $250 an hour for his testimony.

Dr. George Seiden, a Shreveport, La., psychiatrist, said he had performed a "psychological autopsy" on Joe Nunnally by reading depositions given by family members, friends and Nunnally's associates, including his fifth-grade teacher.

Seiden said the Nunnally case was the 10th or 12th tobacco case he's testified in, always for tobacco companies.

He said he receives $250 an hour to review documents and $350 an hour for his testimony. . . He discounted nicotine as an addictive drug, contending that nicotine leaves the body after 10 hours without smoking.

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There's a lot of evidence from the fifth grade forward that [Nunnally] was aware of the dangers [of smoking].
RJR witness Dr. George Seiden, a Shreveport, La., psychiatrist, who said he had performed a "psychological autopsy" on Joe Nunnally. Bayne, W., <I>Tobacco Trial May Go To Jury Today</I>

• Trial Begins In Tobacco Suit 

Joseph Lee Nunnally is partly to blame for becoming hooked on cigarettes as "a foolish 8-year-old child," but so is the company that makes the deadly products that caused his death, said the attorney for Nunnally's widow.

Opening arguments began Thursday in Kay Nunnally's wrongful death lawsuit against tobacco company R.J. Reynolds. . .

Kay Nunnally's attorney, Charles Merkel of Clarksdale, said R.J. Reynolds is liable for marketing an addictive product that company officials knew would kill consumers. . .

"This is a case about choice. About a choice made by an 8-year-old child, and a choice made by adults sitting in offices, thinking, planning, trying to make profits."

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Jury Picked For Tobacco Lawsuit 

Jury selection ended Wednesday in an 8-year-old wrongful death lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Attorneys for R.J. Reynolds and Kay T. Nunnally, who filed suit against the cigarette maker in 1992 over the death of her husband, Joseph Lee Nunnally, selected 12 jurors and four alternates from a pool of about 180 candidates.

Opening arguments for the trial are scheduled to begin this morning.

Jurors are expected to hear testimony from relatives and acquaintances that Joseph Nunnally started smoking between the ages of 8 and 10 and smoked for 27 years, said Charles Merkel of Clarksdale, a Nunnally attorney. . .

"Mr. Nunnally was well aware of the risks of smoking, was fully informed of these risks and assumed these risks for the 27 years that he smoked," Moskowitz said.

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RJR Faces Trial Over Mississippi Smoker's Death (Update1) 

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. this week will defend itself in a Mississippi courtroom against claims its products caused the death of a father of four who began smoking at age 10.

With the tobacco industry fresh from a victory today in Brooklyn, New York, R.J. Reynolds will try to convince a jury that Joe Nunnally's lung cancer does not entitle his family to damages. Opening arguments begin this week in Hernando, Mississippi, near Memphis. . .

Nunnally died in 1989 at age 37 after 27 years of smoking such R.J. Reynolds' brands as Salem, Camel, Winston, and Doral. He worked a variety of jobs, including acting and managing an appliance rental store and various McDonald's restaurants.

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• Widow, Big Tobacco In Court 

Jury selection is expected to begin today in Hernando in an 8-year-old wrongful death lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Kay T. Nunnally filed suit in 1992 over the 1989 death of her husband, Joseph Lee Nunnally.

Jurors are expected to hear testimony from relatives and acquaintances that he started smoking between the ages of 8 and 10 and smoked for 27 years, said Charles Merkel of Clarksdale, one of the attorneys representing Kay Nunnally.

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AT&T pays/Tobacco case moves forward 

Jury selection is underway in Hernando in a wrongful death case where smoking is alleged to have been the cause of a fatal illness.

The case involves the 1989 death of 37-year old Joseph Lee Nunnally who developed lung cancer in 1987.

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• Smoker's Widow's Suit Ready For Trial 

His wife decided to sue the tobacco company she blames for her husband's death.

But Kay Nunnally, a soccer mom who works at Southaven Supply Co., says she's not looking to get rich.

"I'm just trying to make things right,'' she said. "I never looked at this as a lottery ticket.

Jury selection begins Friday at the DeSoto County Courthouse in Hernando in her lawsuit against the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. It is the first such wrongful death suit to reach trial in DeSoto.

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