MAJOR TOBACCO CASE AGAINST PHILIP MORRIS AND REYNOLDS
CLOSING ARGUMENTS IN SACRAMENTO 8:30 AM PST THURSDAY
(Session in Superior Court, Dept. 1, Open to public
and media);
Victims’ Attorneys Available to Speak to Media at
NOON, East Door, 9th and H)
THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, SUPERIOR COURT, DEPT. 1, 720 9TH ST, SACRAMENTO, CA
ATTORNEYS MARY ALEXANDER, GARY PAUL
POINT TO FORMER EMPLOYEES’ TESTIMONY THAT
BOTH COMPANIES CONCEALED TESTING, DESTROYED DOCUMENTS
SHOWING CIGARETTES CAUSED CANCER
TOBACCO GIANTS CHALLENGED FOR 52 YEAR-OLD’S LUNG AND BRAIN CANCER
Attorney Mary Alexander-----
(Sacramento, CA) -- A major tobacco case has closing arguments Thursday,
January 30 (8:30AM PST) in Sacramento. In California’s Superior Court
(Dept. 1, 720 9th Street, open to the public and media), consumer attorneys
Mary Alexander of San Francisco and Gary Paul of Santa Monica conclude
their case in which they brought forward former employees’ testimony that
tobacco giants Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco both “covered up
and concealed biological testing, shut down labs, and destroyed documents
that showed cigarettes were dangerous and caused cancer.” Both companies
were in the same courtroom “despite RJR’s refusal so far to agree with
Philip Morris’s recent admission that the industry knew but kept secret
that smoking is addictive, ” according to Alexander and Paul. Victims’
attorneys will be available to speak to media at noon – East door, 9th
and H.
Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds are being challenged for 52 year-old Larry Lucier’s lung cancer from smoking, which has metastasized to his brain. Alexander and Paul state that Lucier, who is married and has a seven year-old daughter, “will die prematurely; he has less than a 2% chance of living another 5 years.”
Alexander and Paul state that Philip Morris and RJR, “along with the other cigarette manufacturers, have, over the course of decades, misrepresented, concealed, suppressed, and failed to disclose information known to them concerning the addictive and harmful properties of their product. The defendants have affirmatively misled the American public.” Plaintiffs Laurence Lucier and his wife, Laurie Lucier, “seek to hold Defendants Philip Morris and RJR responsible for the consequences of their decades-long fraud.”
Alexander and Paul argue that “Philip Morris and RJR knew that cigarettes kill, but that if the word ever got out, they would lose billions of dollars. They purposely kept nicotine and tar levels high so that they could sell cigarettes in spite of the fact that they knew of the danger of addiction and cancer. We expect that the jury will properly return a verdict against Philip Morris and RJR and will rightly award substantial sums to the plaintiff. This case has broad, industry-wide implications.” The trial has lasted eleven weeks, since November 7.
(Source: Robert Weiner
Associates and Mary Alexander & Associates 301-283-0821)