YET ANOTHER VICTORY AGAINST THE ANTITOBACCO MOBS
STATEMENT FROM RJ REYNOLDS
PR 05/05 1539
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- R.J. Reynolds today issued the
following:
On the heels of two similar cases that were dismissed in their entirety in
April, a federal judge recently dismissed all but one of the claims brought
against the tobacco industry by two union health trust funds in California.
The funds are seeking reimbursement for costs attributable to the alleged
smoking-related illnesses of their members.
"We are pleased that the court found that the plaintiffs' basic legal
theories were without merit," said Daniel W. Donahue, senior vice president
and deputy general counsel for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. "The funds' claims
are fundamentally flawed and they have suffered no direct damage," he said.
United States District Court Judge D. Lowell Jensen dismissed claims
alleging racketeering, state and federal antitrust violations, fraud and
misrepresentation, intentional breach of special duty, unfair business
practices and unjust enrichment. Judge Lowell upheld plaintiffs' negligent
breach of special duty claim after noting that the "Court must assume that
plaintiffs' allegations are true and must draw all reasonable inferences in
plaintiffs' favor."
"This decision, along with decisions dismissing other union trust fund
suits last month in Florida and Pennsylvania, represent a trend across the
nation," Donahue said. "We are confident that most courts will continue to
apply the law and precedent and resist creating bad public policy simply to
punish an industry that is currently unpopular."
SOURCE R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
-0- 05/05/98
/CONTACT: Nat Walker, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, 336-741-7685/
CO: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company ST: North Carolina, California IN: TOB SU:
Copyright 1998 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
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