Whiteley Case in California Reversed, in Favor of Tobacco Companies

Whiteley Case in California Reversed, in Favor of Tobacco
Companies 


WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., April 7  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The tobacco industry
today received a favorable ruling when the California Court of Appeal found that
a lower court failed to properly instruct the jury in the Whiteley case.  The
court reversed the verdict, and ordered a new trial on one claim. R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Company and Philip Morris Incorporated and a number of asbestos
companies were defendants in the suit.

In 2000, a California jury awarded $20 million in punitive damages and $1.7
million in compensatory damages to Leslie J. Whiteley, who developed lung cancer
after smoking for more than 25 years.  Plaintiffs Whiteley and her husband,
LeonardWhiteley, filed the lawsuit alleging that Mrs. Whiteley's lung cancer
was caused by smoking, along with bystander asbestos exposure.

The court found that the jury was not properly instructed regarding a 10-year
statutory immunity period protecting thetobacco companies from litigation that
was passed in California.  If a new trial is conducted, no evidence from 1988 to
1998 can be admitted nor considered by a jury in deciding a verdict.

The court directed that judgment be entered in favor of the tobacco companies on
the negligent design claim stating:  "There is simply no substantial evidence
from which the jury could conclude that the negligent design of cigarettes was
'in reasonable medical probability' a 'substantial factor' contributing to
Whiteley's risk of developing cancer."

The court found it unnecessary to address the punitive damages awarded by the
jury.

"We are confident that we will prevail if this case is retried," said Mark
Holton, vice president and assistant general counsel for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Company.  "Juries across the country, including those recently in California,
have sided with the industry on individual plaintiff smoking and health personal
injury cases, and the Whiteley case should follow this trend.

"As in all the other personal injury cases, we intend to show what jurors and
everyone plainly know -- that smokers have long been aware of the significant,
inherent risks of smoking, and that people who choose to smoke in the face of
these known risks should not be financially rewarded," Holton said.

In fact, Holton said, since January 1998, more than 90 percent of the individual
personal injury cases in California against the tobacco industry have been
either dismissed by court order or voluntarily.

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 cigarettessold 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 Matthews Wallace of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company,

[phone], or mobile, [phone]



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

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