[Headlines Only] [Top Stories Only]
Categories
· Lawsuits
USA, by State
· New York
Lawsuits
· Anderson

Ex-Smoker's Testimony Not Credible, Tobacco Lawyer Tells Jury 

Jump to full article: Bloomberg News, 2000-06-19
Author: Andrew Galvin

Intro:

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc.'s attorney told a Brooklyn, New York jury to disregard an ex-smoker's testimony that he knew nothing about the connection between cigarettes and lung cancer in the 1960s.

After seven weeks of testimony, Reynolds attorney Stephen Kaczynski began closing arguments in the trial today. He described as ``truly amazing and beyond belief'' plaintiff Clyde Anderson's claim that he ``didn't know nothing about lung cancer in the 1960s.''

``Use your God-given common sense,'' Kaczynski urged the jury. . .

Anderson could have quit smoking much earlier than 1993, Kaczynski said. He pointed to an instance in which Anderson said he tried to quit in 1966, after the first warning labels appeared on cigarette packages. Citing the plaintiff's admission that he didn't throw his cigarettes away but kept them in a drawer, Kaczynski said ``that was not a sincere attempt.''

Jump to full article »