Jump to full article: Bloomberg News, 2003-01-10
Author: William McQuillen
Intro: Philip Morris Cos. and other U.S. tobacco companies will face a new trial in a lawsuit brought by a former flight attendant who claims she suffers breathing problems from her exposure to secondhand smoke on airlines.
A Miami jury in September cleared the cigarette makers of liability after Suzette Janoff had sought damages that claimed more than a dozen years of working for AMR Corp.'s American Airlines caused her chronic sinusitis. Miami-Dade County Judge Leslie Rothenberg ordered a new trial after finding that inadmissible testimony was presented to the jury.
Janoff's attorneys claimed the tobacco companies misled the judge and improperly introduced evidence to bolster the testimony of an expert witness.
``The court, in granting the plaintiff a new trial does so due to the highly prejudicial nature of the improperly admitted evidence requiring a retrial and as a warning to lawyers who argue positions to the court that they knew or should have known was contrary to the law,'' Rothenberg wrote. . .
``Ms. Janoff deserves to have her case decided after a fair trial,'' said Edward Sweda, a senior attorney with Northeastern University's Tobacco Products Liability Project, an anti-smoking group. ``The tobacco companies clearly benefited from a verdict that was skewed by reliance on testimony that was both highly prejudicial and improperly presented to the jury.''
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