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A lawsuit seeks more than $1-billion in damages.
Jump to full article: St. Petersburg (FL) Times, 2007-06-07
Author: Helen Huntley, Times Staff Writer
Intro: Tobacco companies targeted African-Americans with sophisticated marketing aimed at getting them hooked on cigarettes and eventually killing them, says a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
The marketing was "meticulously planned and executed with clear racist intent," says the suit filed by Miami lawyer J.B. Harris on behalf of African-American Gloria Tucker, of Coral Springs, representing the estates of her grandmother and mother.
Annie Mae Swain, 80, died in 1994, and Dorothy Oliver, 72, died in 2000 of acute cardiopulmonary failure and other cardiovascular problems. Both lived in Broward County.
The suit asks for more than $1-billion in damages from tobacco companies Philip Morris USA, Lorillard Tobacco, R.J. Reynolds and Liggett Group.
The suit says the companies' targeted marketing included billboards in African-American neighborhoods, sponsorships of sporting events, endorsement deals with African-American celebrities and saturation ad campaigns in publications such as Ebony, Jet and Essence.
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