Other Flight Attendants' Tobacco Lawsuits Not Doomed April 10, 2001
News Summary
Experts say that just because one flight attendant's lawsuit against the tobacco industry was defeated in court, it doesn't spell doom for other cases, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported April 8.In the first of 3,200 lawsuits brought by nonsmoking flight attendants, a jury ruled that the tobacco industry was not responsible for Marie Fontana's illness. Fontana's suit claimed that secondhand smoke caused her lung disease. Her case was unique because she suffers from a lung disease called sarcoidosis, which doctors and scientists say has unknown causes.
The next case could be telling because it involves a nonsmoking flight attendant who developed lung cancer. Unlike sarcoidosis, lung cancer has been linked to cigarette smoke. The jury that hears the case will be instructed that the link to lung cancer and several other diseases is a fact of law.
Joseph Daly, professor at Hamline University Law School in Minnesota, who follows tobacco litigation, said a victory in any of the upcoming tobacco lawsuits could result in the tobacco industry settling some of the smaller cases.
He noted that a jury award in favor of a plaintiff could be a "catastrophe for the tobacco companies. It would set up the fear factor in the tobacco companies. They'd know they've got all these other cases out there and maybe they'd better find a way to get rid of them."
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