Attorneys get testy in smokers' class action
Thursday, March 18, 1999
By TRACY FIELDS, Associated Press
MIAMI - The first-ever trial of a class-action lawsuit by smokers turned stormy Wednesday as lawyers traded accusations, broke trial rules and twice requested a mistrial.
Plaintiffs' attorney Stanley Rosenblatt asked Alexander Spears, chairman of the board of Lorillard Tobacco Co., about his testimony before a congressional committee a few years ago.
"And after you were all done testifying, the chairman of the committee essentially accused you of lying to them, didn't he?"
Lawyers for the tobacco companies and industry groups accused in the $200 billion lawsuit objected forcefully. The jury was sent from the room.
In their absence, Spears explained that the congressman had based the accusation on a misunderstanding of scientific details about nicotine.
Circuit Judge Robert Kaye deemed the question improper. The jury would be told to ignore it, but that wasn't enough for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. attorney Ed Moss.
"I think this is incurable. We move for a mistrial," Moss said.
Kaye deferred ruling on the motion. Rosenblatt promised he wouldn't broach the topic again.
"I guess not," snapped R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. attorney Richard Kirby. "The damage is done."
Rosenblatt, who represents the estimated half-million Florida smokers suing tobacco companies and industry groups, also asked Spears about whether smoking causes illnesses like cancer, as the plaintiffs claim.
The 40-year Lorillard veteran held the industry line that causation hasn't been proven. He explained that animal experiments have failed to produce tumors, "and if that upsets you, I'm sorry."
A juror giggled.
"It doesn't upset ME," Rosenblatt thundered. But he pointed out Frank Amodeo, one of the named plaintiffs who smoked for years before contracting throat cancer, preparing to ask Spears what he'd say to the man.
Tobacco lawyers leaped up, objecting. Kaye had ordered that the plaintiffs not be associated with any particular disease except in opening statements.
Moss and Rosenblatt exchanged words while approaching the bench to talk with the judge, who sent the jury out again.
Lead tobacco attorney Robert Heim, who represents Philip Morris Inc., complained about Rosenblatt's conduct.
"The only reason it keeps happening is because counsel keeps getting away with it," said Heim, pressing for a mistrial.
"They deliberately overreact," responded Rosenblatt.
Kaye said he thought Rosenblatt mentioned Amodeo in the heat of the moment and reserved the right to discipline him later.
"I don't really want to excoriate anybody, but the behavior of the two lawyers was not appropriate," the judge said.
The trial began with jury selection last summer, and opening arguments and testimony were held in October. "I really don't want to throw it away at this point," said Kaye, who ultimately sent the jurors home early, saying, "It's been one of those days, folks."
Earlier Wednesday, Spears testified that a federal effort to develop safer cigarettes didn't produce much that was useful. He was referring to the Tobacco Working Group, a National Cancer Institute project which ran from 1968 to 1977.
"It had produced a lot of good information, though not too much of it was useful in making safer cigarettes," he said, adding later the effort cost $50 million to $60 million.
|
