MINNESOTA JUDGE ORDERS TOBACCO PAPERS RELEASED

ST. PAUL, Minn. (Reuters) - A Minnesota judge Saturday ordered tobacco
companies to turn over thousands of secret documents in the state's
$1.77-billion lawsuit.

Minnesota Attorney General Hubert Humphrey hailed the judge's ruling,
saying: "This is one of the most monumental public health decisions I think
in American history."

Ramsey County District Court Judge Kenneth Fitzpatrick ordered cigarette
makers to release by Monday 39,000 documents that could contain information
on how the industry studied ways to lure young people to smoke, some as
young as five.

The documents were to be made available on Monday to attorneys for the state
of Minnesota and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota for use in their
3-1/2-year-old lawsuit against the tobacco industry.

Tobacco interests had fought to keep the documents secret, saying they were
protected under attorney-client privilege, or because they contained trade
secrets.

"Upon review of randomly selected documents, it has been determined that
defendants have in numerous instances claimed privilege where none is due
and blatantly abused the categorization process," Fitzpatrick wrote in the
ruling.

Fitzpatrick pointed out one research study in the contested papers that
reported on youngsters' motivation for starting to smoke, their brand
preferences as well as the starting behavior of children as young as five
years old.

"Certainly this document should have been released earlier," Fitzpatrick
wrote.

Humphrey, who called the papers the "crown jewels" of tobacco companies,
predicted the ruling would reverberate in the halls of Congress.

"When Congress and the American public see I think the pervasiveness and the
fraud and conspiracy that is shown so clearly in some of these documents
they're going to demand action to truly protect kids from addiction and
disease."

A Minnesota court official, known as a "special master", last month had
recommended making the documents public.

The state and insurance provider sued the tobacco industry to recoup costs
of treating smoke-related diseases.

Defendants in the case include: Philip Morris Companies Inc., R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Co., a division of RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp.; Brown and Williamson
Tobacco Co., a division of B.A.T Industries Plc; Lorillard Tobacco Co. a
division of Loews Corp.; Ligget Group Inc. a unit of Brooke Group Ltd.; The
American Tobacco Co., which was purchased by Brown and Williamson; and
tobacco trade groups, The Council For Tobacco Research-U.S.A. Inc. and The
Tobacco Institute Inc.