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Court douses smoke lawsuit 

A former cigarette salesman lost his legal battle against Imperial Tobacco yesterday when a judge decided there was no proof that his heart trouble was caused by smoking.

Joseph Battaglia, 59, launched his suit against the Canadian tobacco giant in 1997, suing them for $6,000 in small claims court.

Yesterday, Justice Pamela Thompson dismissed Battaglia's claim, saying "his heart disease stabilized in 1999 when he started taking his medication.

"In 1999, his condition should have deteriorated. It didn't," she said.

But she had tough words for the tobacco company and its use of content figures on the side of cigarette packages.

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