Tobacco lawyers asking judge to gut secondhand smoke case

By Michael Connor

MIAMI (Reuter) Tobacco lawyers want the judge in a $5 billion
secondhandsmoke trial to slash the legal claims against cigarette makers,
saying no evidence pointing to an industry conspiracy had been shown to
jurors.

Charges that the five cigarette makers and two trade groups conspired to
hide the dangers of secondhand smoke are key to the claims of the 60,000
flight attendants suing the industry.

The tobacco lawyers, who are scheduled to argue Friday in Dade County
Court, asserted in court papers that lawyers Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt
had presented a highly emotional but unsubstantial plaintiffs case.

"Plaintiffs have approached the case as if it were a heresy trial, with
witnesses swearing allegiance to the (secondhand smoke) causation thesis
and implying that anyone who believes to the contrary is a heretic and a
defrauder,'' Edward Moss, an attorney for Brown & Williamson, wrote in a
court paper.

Moss and other lawyers representing the cigarette makers urged Judge Robert
Kaye to dismiss the claims they conspired because little or no evidence
backing up the charges were presented.

"Plaintiffs presented over 50 witnesses at trial, but not a single one of
those witnesses testified that two or more defendants agreed to do anything
unlawful,'' Reynolds Tobacco lawyer Hugh Whiting wrote.

The tobacco lawyers also argued that the Rosenblatts had failed to prove
any evidence linking secondhand smoke to breast cancer, peptic ulcer
disease, endometris and several other cancers such as cervical and stomach.

The tobacco lawyers asked Kaye for a directed verdict, throwing out the
conspiracy and other claims before a jury hears their defense witnesses.
The defense is scheduled to call its first witness Monday.

I can't believe the judge would go for a directed verdict this far into the
trial,'' said a consultant tracking the case.

Well past the threemonth mark, the trial of Norma Broin et al vs. Philip
Morris et al began with jury selection June 2. The Rosenblatts called their
first witness in midJuly and rested their case early last week.

Their witnesses included two former U.S. surgeon generals and a blueribbon
roster of researchers, physicians and engineers to bolster their claims
that secondhand smoke aboard U.S. aircraft had caused the illnesses of
approximately 60,000 nonsmoking flight attendants.

Norma Broin, the lead plaintiff, is a nonsmoking flight attendant for
American Airlines who was diagnosed with lung cancer.

They also questioned industry executives and the heads of tobacco trade
groups about company research into the dangers of smoking.

The tobacco companies were expected to rely on experts in epidemiology and
other sciences to challenge the plaintiffs claims. Their defense is
expected to last about three weeks.