Tobacco.org

• High court orders jurors replaced / They have relatives who smoke tobacco 

The Louisiana Supreme Court on Tuesday told the judge in a pending class action lawsuit against three of the nation's big tobacco companies to replace four jurors and five alternates, saying the verdict could be swayed by their desire for close relatives to get free medical tests.

There was no immediate word about when Civil District Court Judge Richard Ganucheau would pick new jurors. Five of the court's seven justices agreed the trial could not proceed without new jurors; two of the justices said even more jurors and alternates should have been stricken from the case. . .

The justices said Ganucheau erred by not dismissing three of 12 jurors and four of 10 alternates who, despite claiming they could be fair, indicated they would like to see their immediate relatives get help to stop smoking and annual health testing or gave other reasons to believe those relationships might affect their verdict. The court instructed Ganucheau to replace not only those jurors and alternates, but also the juror and alternate the appeals court said should not have been seated.

The Supreme Court told Ganucheau to shift four existing alternates to the jury. After dismissing the five alternates, that leaves only one person on the original slate of alternates. The judge then must hold hearings to pick nine new alternate jurors, building that panel back up to ten, the court said.

The number of separate opinions emerging from the court Tuesday, six, illustrated sharp disagreement among the justices. . .

Associate Justice Jeffrey Victory and Jeannette Theriot Knoll concurred, but in strongly worded dissents they decried the practice of allowing people to serve as jurors in cases affecting their relatives. They would have struck all jurors and alternates with immediate family members who are potential members of the class, including four additional jurors and one more alternate.

Jump to full article »

When you look at the parameters of the class, every citizen in Louisiana, including judges, are potential members of the class, as virtually everyone is connected in some fashion to a smoker or former smoker.
Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice Bernette Johnson, in her dissent from the majority's decision which forces the Scott case judge to replace four jurors and five alternates. The court decided the verdict could be swayed by their desire for close relatives to get free medical tests. Finch, S.