Tobacco Firm Not Liable in Snuff Case

A federal court jury ruled Friday that the U.S. Tobacco Co. is not responsible for the death of a high school athlete who used the company’s Copenhagen snuff for six years and developed oral cancer.

It was the third recent product liability victory for the tobacco industry.

Betty Ann Marsee, who had sought $147 million from the company in the death of her son, Sean, sobbed as she told reporters that she feared the verdict would send a message to other teen-agers that snuff dipping is safe.

‘Another 25 Seans’

“The kids will think that this is another safe product . . . and there will be another nine or 10 or 25 Seans,” Marsee said.

She alleged that Sean’s use of snuff caused the high school track star to develop tongue cancer in 1983, leading to his death at age 19 a year later.

The verdict in the five-week trial came after six hours of deliberations that began Thursday. Two of the six jurors wept as they left the courtroom.

Attorneys for Marsee said that an appeal to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals is likely.

One of her attorneys, George Braly, said he was not allowed to present evidence about individual cases of tongue cancer similar to Marsee’s to refute the tobacco company’s contention that tongue cancer in young people is different from mouth cancers associated with snuff.

‘Medical Curiosity’

The company presented studies of cases of similar tongue cancers in young people. The studies concluded that the disease in young people is a “medical curiosity” for which the cause is not known.

“In essence, the jury has said that U.S. Tobacco was not responsible for this young man’s tragic death,” U.S. Tobacco spokesman Larry Alan said.

“There’s been a lot of speculation as to the impact of this decision on U.S. Tobacco as a company and on the tobacco industry as a whole,” Alan said. “At this point, it is simply too early to assess what that impact might be.”

Marsee had asked jurors to award her punitive damages of almost $137 million, U.S. Tobacco’s profits in 1983, because of the company’s failure to warn consumers about possible health hazards of using snuff, despite its knowledge of links between an ingredient in snuff and cancer. She also requested $10 million for pain and suffering and $58,000 for medical and funeral expenses.

Yearlong Cancer Fight

Sean died in Ada after a yearlong battle against cancer, despite three operations.

A state court jury in Santa Barbara, Calif., ruled last year in favor of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in a lawsuit brought by a family who contended that a relative had died from cancer caused by cigarette smoking. The jury found that the evidence did not support the family’s claim that the victim had been addicted to cigarettes.

A federal judge in Knoxville, Tenn., threw out a damage suit against Liggett & Myers in December, ruling that a man failed to prove that the company’s cigarettes caused circulatory problems that resulted in the amputation of the plaintiff’s left leg.