Tobacco Jury Selection Begins in Healthy Smokers Retrial
Jury selection begins today in a "landmark" West Virginia class-action lawsuit that is asking four tobacco companies to pay for annual medical tests for healthy smokers, the AP/Deseret News reports. The first attempt to try the case ended in a mistrial in January (AP/Deseret News, 9/3). Then, Ohio County Circuit Judge Arthur Recht halted the trial after a plaintiffs' witness "made a veiled and apparently inadvertent reference to addiction," which Recht had banned from being introduced as evidence. The judge suggested that plaintiffs' lawyers restructure the case to focus on product design and liability (California Healthline, 1/23). In the new trial, lawyers and witnesses may only address issues "common to any smoker" and the "conduct of tobacco companies." Witnesses may mention addiction but not the "reasons people start to smoke or their ability to stop" and may discuss tar but not the "ways smokers compensate to inhale more of it." Tobacco company lawyers may argue that "people should quit smoking to stay healthy" but cannot discuss "whether smokers can quit." According to the AP/Deseret News, "cessation, compensation and choice" also represent "taboo issues" that could "derail the trial." The lawsuit targets R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Philip Morris Cos., Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. and Lorillard Tobacco Co. Opening statements will begin Sept. 10, with six jurors and four alternates expected to hear testimony until December (AP/Deseret News, 9/3).