Jump to full article: New York Times, 1998-06-15
Author: KURT EICHENWALD
Intro: LEAD: Members of Congress said yesterday that a New Jersey jury's verdict finding a cigarette manufacturer liable in the lung-cancer death of a woman could revive prospects for a wide range of Federal anti-smoking legislation.
Members of Congress said yesterday that a New Jersey jury's verdict finding a cigarette manufacturer liable in the lung-cancer death of a woman could revive prospects for a wide range of Federal anti-smoking legislation.
Even as the two sides in the trial argued over the meaning of the decision, some members of Congress said it had provided an important psychological victory for opponents of smoking that could affect the debate about the issue on Capitol Hill.
. . .
At a news conference in Manhattan, the general counsel of Lorillard, Arthur Stevens, said the jury had rejected the theory that the internal company documents proved the existence of a conspiracy. ''There were no smoking guns among the papers,'' he said.
Mr. Stevens excoriated Judge H. Lee Sarokin of Federal District Court in Newark, who presided over the trial, saying he had been biased in his statements. ''He demonstrated in his dismissal opinion an extreme bias and practically laid out the guidelines for what the jury could find,'' Mr. Stevens said. Finding on Conspiracy Charge
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