Minnesota Ordered to Make Public 33 Million Pages of Tobacco Data

The judge in Minnesota’s lawsuit against the tobacco industry ruled Saturday that the public should be allowed to see more than 33 million pages of internal company documents, as tobacco companies had requested.

Minnesota collected the documents through discovery in the 2 1/2 years leading up to the trial.

Originally, Ramsey County District Judge Kenneth Fitzpatrick had said the documents, held in high-security warehouses, could not be released to the public until they were introduced as evidence.

State Atty. Gen. Hubert Humphrey III applauded the judge’s action, although he earlier had called the request to open the files a public relations ploy.

He said the documents would show the industry marketed to children, manipulated nicotine and conspired to conceal health research.

In asking the judge for permission to let the public see the documents, the four largest U.S. cigarette makers said the request was to back up commitments their top executives made to Congress to make public all the non-privileged, noncompetitive sensitive documents their companies had turned over in the Minnesota lawsuit.

Fitzpatrick’s order excludes documents containing trade secrets and documents the companies are still fighting to keep secret on grounds of attorney-client privilege.