http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/lawsuit/conley.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://biz.yahoo.com/tsp/030102/10060745_2.html http://tobacco.org/news/112943.html Salomon Smith Barney (Tobacco) Finally, a victory for the industry on the West Coast. A CA federal court judge just entered a directed verdict in the Conley indiv. trial against MO & RJR. Not only is this favorable news, in our view, but importantly, this is probably the first real time that the Myers & Naegele decision has helped the industry. Although we believe this is positive for the industry and the stocks could get a bounce, we remain cautious on the group since we expect the fundamental concerns to weigh more heavily on the stock. We Marketweight the industry. thestreet.com Thu, 02 Jan 2003 05:00:00 GMT http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?T=marketsquote99_relnews.ht&s=APhIMoBV3VG9iYWNj http://tobacco.org/news/112851.html Philip Morris Cos. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. won a lawsuit brought by relatives of a dead smoker, their first victory in California after four straight losses in individual smoker cases. U.S. District Judge Saundra Armstrong ruled in favor of the companies after relatives of Frank Robert White finished presenting their case, in the first wrongful-death case against cigarette makers to proceed to trial. . . White died in July 1999 at 81 after decades of smoking Camel and Marlboro brand cigarettes. Plaintiffs, who included relatives Elaine Conley, Weldon White and Dorothy White, claimed smoking caused White's chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cardiomyopathy. . . Richard Daynard, a Northeastern University law professor and anti-smoking activist, said federal judges are ``much more conservative'' than state judges because they tend to come from large law firms where they defended corporations. ``Plaintiffs' lawyers generally try to get out of federal court and defense lawyers just love being in there,'' Daynard said. ``There's a tremendous difference of attitude between state and federal court.'' Bloomberg News Tue, 31 Dec 2002 05:00:00 GMT http://rd.yahoo.com/finance/external/cbsm/*http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&guid=%7B42D527A2-726C-497C-9C91-7DA3BE8B2A8C%7D http://tobacco.org/news/112826.html Big tobacco snapped its long Left Coast losing streak Tuesday when a federal judge directed a verdict in favor of R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris in a case brought by the family members of a dead smoker. On the last day of 2002, Judge Saundra Armstrong of the Northern District of California ruled that plaintiffs had not produced sufficient evidence to support their claims and that a jury could not reasonably return a verdict against the cigarette giants. As result, Elaine Conley, Weldon White and Dorothy White came up with an empty sack after suing over the 1999 death of 81-year-old Frank White. CBS MarketWatch Tue, 31 Dec 2002 05:00:00 GMT http://rjrt.com/TI/TIlitigation_Backgrounderview.asp?DocId=401 http://tobacco.org/news/112815.html ELAINE CONLEY, et al., Plaintiffs, v. R.J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO CO. and PHILIP MORRIS INCORPORATED, Defendants. . . TRIAL SITE The case is being tried in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (in Oakland). JUDGE The Honorable Saundra B. Armstrong is the trial judge. EXPECTED DURATION Jury selection began Dec. 6, 2002. Opening arguments were scheduled to begin Dec. 9, 2002, and the trial is expected to last about three or four weeks. . . . The plaintiffs allege that Frank White’s use of the defendants’ cigarettes caused him to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle, which resulted in Mr. White’s death. . . Although the companies agree that cardiomyopathy caused Mr. White’s death, they submit that his cardiomyopathy was not smoking related. With regard to this issue, one or more other doctors may be called to testify that the plaintiffs have not proven that smoking cigarettes was a substantial factor in the development of Mr. White’s cardiomyopathy. Additionally, the defendants disagree that COPD had anything to do with Frank White’s death. Both Mr. White’s cardiologist and the plaintiffs’ own retained medical expert witness have testified that COPD did not cause Mr. White’s death. RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. Tue, 10 Dec 2002 05:00:00 GMT http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021231/chtu002_1.html http://tobacco.org/news/112814.html A federal court judge in California today entered a directed verdict in favor of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Philip Morris Incorporated in Conley. The Conley case is an individual smoking and health suit that was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The trial began on Dec. 4, 2002, in Oakland. . . After the plaintiffs rested their case, Judge Saundra B. Armstrong entered a verdict in favor of Reynolds Tobacco and Philip Morris because the plaintiffs failed to produce sufficient evidence to support their claims that the companies were responsible for the death of Frank White. "As the plaintiffs presented their case, it became increasingly clear that their claims against Reynolds Tobacco had no merit," said Stephen J. Kaczynski, Reynolds Tobacco's lead counsel for this case. "Judge Armstrong rightfully ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to show that the company's products were defectively designed or that Mr. White had not been warned about the risks of smoking." . . In Conley, the judge ruled as a matter of law that the jury could not reasonably return a verdict for the plaintiffs, and entered a verdict in favor of the defendants -- Reynolds Tobacco and Philip Morris. PR Newswire Tue, 31 Dec 2002 05:00:00 GMT http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/021231/tobacco_rjreynolds_philipmorris_1.html http://tobacco.org/news/112813.html A federal court judge in California on Tuesday entered a directed verdict in favor of the top two U.S. cigarette makers in a smoking suit, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. (NYSE:RJR) said. The suit, known as Conley, was an individual smoking and health suit heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. In the trial, plaintiffs Elaine Conley, Weldon White and Dorothy White sought damages for the death of their father and husband, Frank Robert White, who died in 1999 at the age of 81, Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based R.J. Reynolds said in a statement. . . After the plaintiffs rested their case, Judge Saundra Armstrong entered a verdict in favor of R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris "because the plaintiffs failed to produce sufficient evidence to support their claims that the companies were responsible for the death of Frank White," R.J. Reynolds said in its statement. Reuters Tue, 31 Dec 2002 05:00:00 GMT