Jump to full article: AP, 2005-09-20
Author: ERIK SCHELZIG AP Business Writer
Intro: Tobacco companies, including two based in North Carolina, want to run a few "bellwether" cases of individual smokers before addressing the more than 1,000 complaints brought against the cigarette makers in Ohio County.
Tobacco attorney Andrew Schapiro on Tuesday told the state Supreme Court that lumping all the cases together could make the cigarette makers liable for things they are not necessarily accused of.
About 1,100 smokers claim five cigarette companies and a public relations firm were involved in a process of "fraudulent concealment" beginning in the 1950s to entice people to smoke. Their allegations included that the companies marketed smoking to youths, made misrepresentations about "light" cigarettes and manipulated nicotine levels in certain brands.
Schapiro argued that by trying all the cases together, it would ignore that each smoker had a different set of circumstances. A person who started smoking at age 30 could not blame the cigarette companies for allegedly directing advertising at youths, he said.
"They would throw all of them in a blender, and the defendants would have to pay damages for things they never were alleged to do wrong," Schapiro said. . . .
The smokers' attorney, Kenneth McClain, said the proposal for individual tobacco trials is unreasonable because they take too long to process. Four unrelated smoking cases that he is working on have taken four years to get to trial, he said.
"Justice delayed is justice denied," he said.
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