IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: Tobacco under attack

July 7, 1999
Web posted at: 5:40 p.m. EDT (2106 GMT)

MIAMI (CNN) -- After deliberating for seven days, the jury in a landmark, class-action lawsuit on Wednesday found the tobacco industry negligent for marketing a dangerous product that causes deadly diseases, and said it is liable for damages that could amount to hundreds of billions of dollars.

Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Robert Kaye ordered all parties to return to court at 9 a.m. Thursday to decide on a course for the damages phase of the case.

Dozens of plaintiffs in the courtroom hugged each other and their attorneys after the verdict was read and the judge sent the jury from the courtroom.

The verdict affects as many as 200,000 Florida smokers and the heirs of those who died from smoking-related illnesses.

The jury, among other things, found the companies were responsible for selling a product that caused bladder cancer, strokes, heart disease, lung and throat cancer, pregnancy complications and miscarriages.

It also found that cigarettes are addictive and the companies intentionaly misled smokers about the dangers.

Now that the industry has been found liable, the same jury will decide what damages should be awarded to the suit's nine plaintiffs. Once their cases are concluded, the other members of the class will be free to file their claims.

Industry analysts had expected the four men and two women on the jury to decide against Big Tobacco in this first phase of the marathon case, believed to be one of the longest civil trials on record. Opening statements began October 19.

It is the first lawsuit brought by a group of individual smokers to reach the trial stage.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of the Florida smokers seeks at least $200 billion from the tobacco companies. It accuses them of conspiring to manipulate nicotine levels to addict smokers; hiding damaging medical research; and spending billions of dollars to hook new smokers, including children.

Defense lawyers had sought a mistrial after closing arguments on June 25, claiming the lawyer for smokers and their families had made several "inappropriate" comments that prejudiced the jury, including a statement about a sick war veteran who was waiting for the panel's decision.

Plaintiffs' attorney Stanley Rosenblatt, holding an unlit cigarette to his lips, had told jurors: there is "no way to make this product safe, and all the efforts -- all the so-called efforts at making it safe -- are a con and are a game.

"If you sell a product which causes cancer, and which is addictive, stop selling it, because you know it's doing unbelievable harm to your fellow Americans."

'The case was about choice'

Earlier, lead tobacco attorney Robert Heim argued that punitive damages would be warranted only if the companies' conduct caused injury -- which he said has not been proven.

"You can't say that companies ... have had a reckless disregard for safety, that they showed an entire lack of care," he said. "The evidence has showed that they have been committed over the years ... to making cigarettes as safe as they can be."

Tobacco attorneys argued that the charges against the tobacco giants were untrue.

"The case was about choice. I said it was about people's choice to smoke and their choice to continue to smoke and I said it was about responsibility," Heim said.

Norman Scarborough is part of the class-action lawsuit. A lifelong smoker, cancer caused him to lose his voice box.

"I just cannot quit. Even after the operation, the first thing I wanted was another cigarette," admitted Scarborough.

But Heim argued, "The idea that smokers can't quit is absolutely wrong. Fifty million have quit and quit for good."

The jury is composed of four non-smokers, one ex-smoker who quit 28 years ago and one smoker.

Correspondent Susan Candiotti, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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