West Virginia Supreme Court Upholds Jury Verdict in Favor of the Tobacco Industry in Medical Monitoring Case

West Virginia Supreme Court Upholds Jury Verdict in Favor of the
Tobacco Industry in Medical Monitoring Case 


WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., May 6  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tobacco manufacturers won
an important appeal in the West Virginia Supreme Court today. The court
affirmed a jury's 2001 verdict that U.S. cigarette companies should not have to
pay for medical monitoring for healthy current and former smokers in the state.

The class-action case, called Blankenship, was filed on behalf of an estimated
250,000 West Virginia smokers who did not claim that they were ill or that they
were unable to quit smoking.  Rather, they alleged that smoking cigarettes
placed them at an increased risk of contracting serious diseases. This was the
first case of its type to go to trial.

In affirming the jury's decision, the court found that there was not a "serious
challenge to the jury's conclusion ... that exposure to [cigarette smoke] does
not 'make it reasonably necessary for all class members to undergo periodic
medical examinations different from what would be prescribed in the absence of
exposure.'"

Jeff Furr, the attorney for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company who served as the
lead trial counsel for the tobacco industry, said, "The jury sent a clear
message with its verdict:  Tobacco companies are not liable for the inherent
risks associated with smoking, and if smokers are concerned about those risks,
they should quit -- not sue and continue to smoke. The West Virginia Supreme
Court simply refused to upset the jury's verdict, rejecting the notion that
healthy smokers and former smokers need, or would benefit from, the medical
monitoring program that was proposed by the plaintiffs' lawyers."

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJRT) is a wholly owned subsidiary of R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:RJR).  R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is
the second-largest tobacco company in the United States, manufacturing about
one of every four cigarettes sold in the United States.  Reynolds Tobacco's
product line includes four of the nation's 10 best-selling cigarette brands:
Camel, Winston, Salem and Doral.  For more information about RJRT, visit the
company's web site at http://www.rjrt.com/ . 

DATASOURCE: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company



CONTACT:  Ellen Wallace of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc.,

[phone], or cell, [phone]



Web site:  http://www.rjrt.com/

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