FLORIDA COURT REVERSES 1996 TOBACCO VERDICT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- An appeals court yesterday threw out a $750,000
verdict won by a smoker two years ago, ruling the lawsuit was filed too
late.

The 1996 verdict was only the second time in 40 years of anti-smoking
litigation that a tobacco company was ordered to pay damages.

Grady Carter, 66, sued Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., blaming it for the
lung cancer he developed after smoking for 44 years.

But the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled 3-0 that the lawsuit "was filed
more than four years after Grady Carter knew or should have known ... that
he had a smoking-related disease."

B&W had no immediate comment.

On June 10, a jury in Jacksonville ordered B&W to pay nearly $1 million to
the family of a man who died after smoking Lucky Strikes for almost 50
years.

It was the biggest liability verdict ever against the industry, and the
third time a jury had awarded damages in a smoking liability case. It was
also the first time a jury ordered punitive damages because cigarettes are
inherently dangerous.