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Excerpts from Appeals court upholds $349 million settlement

By TRACY FIELDS, Associated Press [03/25/99]

A state appeals court has upheld a $349 million class action settlement to nonsmoking flight attendants who sued cigarette makers claiming that working on smoky airplanes made them sick.

The settlement was first proposed in October 1997 as defense lawyers for the tobacco companies were presenting their case. Circuit Judge Robert Kaye approved it in February 1998, but some flight attendants objected.

The appeal judges said the settlement was "fair, adequate, and reasonable."

The deal calls for $300 million to fund a foundation to sponsor research on diseases suffered by the attendants.

The settlement provides no money for individual flight attendants, but allows them to use evidence from the trial in their individual cases.

The settlement also relieves them of the burden of proving cigarette smoking caused their illnesses.

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