Tobacco.org

• Tobacco going on trial in first Inland lawsuit 

Lawyers for Philip Morris USA counted on a timing technicality to short-circuit a Moreno Valley man's lawsuit that blamed his lung cancer on the tobacco giant.

But a Riverside County Superior Court jury kept the case alive.

In the Inland region's first trial of its kind, Bruce Coolidge and his wife, Patricia, will be allowed beginning Monday to present evidence that Marlboro cigarettes ruined his health so the manufacturer, Philip Morris, must pay. . . .

Sir Richard Doll, a British doctor who in the early 1950s first linked smoking to lung cancer, will be among the first witnesses via videotape Monday after opening statements. More than 20 experts are lined up to testify for both sides.

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