Tobacco.org

$2.2 million verdict to smoker of cigarettes with asbestos filters 

Charles Connor, 75, of Baltimore County, sued after he was diagnosed in June 1997 with mesothelioma, a cancer linked to asbestos. He had smoked a pack of Kents a day for eight years before quitting about 37 years ago.

A jury on Thursday returned the verdict against Lorillard Inc., maker of Kents, and Hollingsworth & Vose Co., which made the ''Micronite'' filters used in the cigarettes.

Lawyers for the companies said they would appeal. The companies have won nine of the 11 other lawsuits that have been tried. . . The lawsuit alleged an elaborate cover-up by the companies to hide the dangers of the filters. Studies in 1954 about whether asbestos was leaking into the smoke have disappeared, the lawsuit stated.

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