A lawsuit charging that Lorillard Tobacco Co. marketed cigarettes to minority children will proceed after a Massachusetts judge denied the company's attempt to have the case dismissed, the Boston Globe reported Feb. 8.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Paul E. Troy's decision allows the family of Marie Evans to move forward with their case against Lorillard. Evans alleged that she first got samples of the company's Newport cigarettes when she was 9 years old, during a giveaway next to a Roxbury playground where she was playing. Evans died of lung cancer in 2002, at age 54.

Lawyers for the family say that Lorillard intentionally marketed to children in minority neighborhoods. The case is thought to be the first of its kind in the U.S. "I would not call it racism, but Lorillard handed out free samples of its cigarettes to a poor minority community in Boston," said Rebecca McIntyre, a lawyer for Evans' son, Will, who filed the case.

Lorillard is claiming that it should not be held responsible for any harm suffered by Evans after 1969, when Congress passed a law requiring health warnings on cigarettes. Troy rejected that argument, saying the company could still be found negligent despite the warnings.