Jury Clears RJR, BAT in Cancer Case

A Louisiana jury cleared R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings and British American Tobacco of blame for a smoker’s cancer, two days after another jury dealt the tobacco industry a landmark defeat. The family and health insurer of Robert Gilboy, who died in 1993, had sought more than $1 million in damages. Analysts expected the companies to win the 12-year-old suit. The ruling shows that the companies’ traditional legal defenses remain potent when they’re allowed to use them, analysts said. The industry lost the first phase of a class-action trial Wednesday in Miami. Gilboy, who died at age 64, smoked Lucky Strike, Salem and More cigarettes. His family and the insurer claimed that smoking caused Gilboy’s cancer and sought damages for injuries suffered during his lifetime. The plaintiffs didn’t claim smoking caused Gilboy’s death. The tobacco industry claimed Gilboy’s lung cancer wasn’t caused by smoking but by a preexisting scar that was likely caused by another disease, such as tuberculosis, and that his main health problem was Parkinson’s disease.