N.Y. Jury May Reach Verdict in $130-Million Tobacco Suit

A federal court jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., is expected to reach a verdict, possibly as soon as this week, in a $130-million tobacco suit brought against major cigarette companies by a Johns Manville trust. Lawyers for the trust argued during the trial that the tobacco industry should pay the fund because cigarette makers lied to asbestos workers whose smoking made them 50 times more likely to contract cancer than nonsmokers. The tobacco companies argued that they should not pay damages to the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, which was established to pay health claims brought by former asbestos workers. Initially, the trust sought payments of between $1.3 billion and $1.9 billion. But U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein ruled that the tobacco firms were liable for a maximum of $130 million. The companies involved in the case include Philip Morris Cos., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., Loews Corp.’s Lorillard Tobacco Co. and Brown & Williamson.