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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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LA Jury Will Decide on Smoking Cessation Programs Cigarette Makers Must Provide [03/31-3]
Excerpts from: New Orleans jury to consider quit-smoking programs
By ALAN SAYRE The Houma Courier [03/30/04]
In the second phase of a marathon trial against Big Tobacco, a jury will be
asked to decide what kinds of quit-smoking programs that cigarette makers should
provide for 1.5 million current and former Louisiana smokers.
The phase that begins Wednesday, part of a long-running class-action suit against the tobacco industry, will pit smokers' attorneys pushing for extensive, statewide smoking cessation programs against industry lawyers who contend that adequate quit-smoking programs already are in place.
On July 25, 2003, the same jury ruled that tobacco companies should finance cessation programs, but rejected the plaintiffs' call for medical monitoring for smokers and ex-smokers.
The jury found that tobacco companies conspired to distort the public's knowledge about smoking and health and improperly marketed cigarettes to minors.
There has been no estimate of what such programs could cost the industry, but defense attorneys have said that about 90 percent of the industry's potential cost from the suit evaporated with the ruling against medical monitoring.
The Louisiana Supreme Court recently cleared the way for the second phase of the trial to begin by upholding a key ruling by Judge Richard Ganucheau. The judge said the tobacco industry cannot now claim that smokers willingly took the risk of starting, now that the jury found fraud on the part of the tobacco companies.
The next phase of the trial is expected to last about two months.
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