An attorney for American Brands has admitted...

An attorney for American Brands has admitted that company representatives talked with jurors during the trial of a $16.5-million damage suit against the cigarette manufacturer, but he says the plaintiffs are wrong to call it jury tampering. Ed Blackmon, a lawyer for American Brands, scoffed at the jury tampering charge, saying the alleged improper contact with jurors was to let jurors know there wouldn’t be court that particular day because the judge was ill. The family of deceased smoker Nathan Horton of Durant, Miss., had claimed that American Brands should be held liable for his illness and death, but the trial ended Jan. 29 with a hung jury.