Tobacco.org

• Brown & Williamson to Take Texas Smoker Suit to Jury (Update1) 

Attorneys for the family of a longtime Texas smoker are expected to present closing arguments Monday to a jury that will decide whether Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. is responsible for his 1986 death.

The state court trial, the first individual suit against the tobacco industry in Texas, could serve as a preview of how the individual smoker suits will fare in the state's courts, experts have said.

Wiley Grinnell and his family originally brought the suit in 1985 shortly before his death from lung cancer. . .

Beaumont ``is known as being more pro-plaintiff than other areas,'' said David Crump, a law professor at the University of Houston. However, ``these cases really do tend to defy prediction.''

Grinnell, who worked an assortment of jobs as a laborer, smoked mostly Lucky Strikes and Pall Malls. He started in 1952, before warning labels were placed on cigarette packages.

Jump to full article »