USA: LIGGETT TOBACCO GROUP ARE READY TO SETTLE 22 STATE LAWSUITS скачать в хорошем качестве

USA: LIGGETT TOBACCO GROUP ARE READY TO SETTLE 22 STATE LAWSUITS

(20 Mar 1997) English/Nat The maker of Chesterfield cigarettes is ready to settle 22 state lawsuits by agreeing to put warning labels on every pack saying smoking is addictive and causes cancer. The deal by the Liggett Group might provide prosecutors with thousands of documents that detail industry-wide discussions of nicotine and cigarette marketing. But Philip Morris and other big tobacco companies have won a restraining order against Liggett from turning over possibly incriminating documents. The breaking of ranks of tobacco companies in the United States will have dramatic implications for smokers, manufacturing companies and states suing tobacco companies to recover the costs of caring for ill smokers. But the proposed settlement against Liggett will not end state litigation against the company's competitors. Nor will it affect over 200 private lawsuits pending against cigarette manufacturers. And it doesn't provide a framework for a global tobacco settlement as other companies, unlike Liggett, are financially able to withstand a big damage award. However, in a pre-emptive strike, Philip Morris announced it had won a temporary restraining order Thursday morning to prevent one part of the deal - Liggett's agreement to turn over thousands of documents believed to incriminate the entire tobacco industry. The documents include conversations among industry lawyers, which Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard and Brown & Williamson contend are confidential attorney-client communications. A number of State attorneys general appeared together Thursday morning in front of the White House before the announcement of the restraining order. They said the settlement was one of the most important breakthroughs in the battle against 'big tobacco'. The irony is that the evidence is self-incriminating. SOUNDBITE: (English) "This, were it to be, this agreement to be finalised, would be the first time that the stonewall has been breached that evidence is actually being made available from the companies themselves of the allegations that we have made." SUPER CAPTION: Scott Harshberger, National Association of Attorney Generals The Liggett Group Inc. has not yet finalised the deal, but the Attorneys General have scheduled a news conference for later Thursday to unveil the settlement. But there was no doubt that the breakthrough would be of benefit to consumers, whose health has suffered through years of denial by tobacco companies that cigarette- smoking endangered life. SOUNDBITE: (English) "And every time that more and more evidence comes out, I feel so badly that many people who over the years decided to smoke based upon the lies of the tobacco industry. You kind of wonder if they would have had the truth then, they may very well have decided not to smoke." SUPER CAPTION: Robert Butterworth, Attorney General, Florida SOUNDBITE: (English) "Well I started when I was sixteen years old smoking, had there been a label on it warning me of danger signs, my parents were old as I would consider it and we had been taught that if things were bad for you not to do it, I don't think I would have smoked." SUPER CAPTION: Voxpop The reaction from some smokers were that they knew of the dangers, yet went ahead with the habit. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Well I'm not telling anyone what they can eat and what they can't, and by the same token I don't want to hear too much about how bad smoking is for me I'm not telling anyone how bad things are that they do." SUPER CAPTION: Voxpop UPSOUND: "Nope, it is my habit." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...