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Tobacco Firms Get a Victory In Court Case in Tennessee 

But analyst David Adelman of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter said the outcome "doesn't mean the two West Coast verdicts were aberrations." Indeed, the Memphis jury found Reynolds and Brown & Williamson liable for the death of one of the smokers, but didn't award damages because Tennessee law bars damages in cases where plaintiffs are found to be at least 50% responsible for their injuries. . . Shelby County Circuit Judge D'Army Bailey allowed the jury to view only a handful of internal documents accumulated by Jacksonville, Fla., plaintiffs lawyer Norwood S. "Woody" Wilner. Mr. Wilner's star witness for smoking-related pulmonary diseases, Allan Feingold of Miami, was prevented from testifying about industry conduct. As a result, Dr. Feingold, chief of the department of pulmonary medicine at South Miami Hospital, didn't testify at all.

Jury instructions in the case made it clear that plaintiffs could win damages only if the tobacco companies were more than 50% to blame for the lung cancer in each case.

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