RJR RJ Reynolds Tob Hlds

West Virginia Supreme Court Upholds Jury Verdict in Favor of the Tobacco Industry in Medical Monitoring Case WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., May 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tobacco manufacturers won an important appeal in the West Virginia Supreme Court today. The court affirmed a jury's 2001 verdict that U.S. cigarette companies should not have to pay for medical monitoring for healthy current and former smokers in the state. The class-action case, called Blankenship, was filed on behalf of an estimated 250,000 West Virginia smokers who did not claim that they were ill or that they were unable to quit smoking. Rather, they alleged that smoking cigarettes placed them at an increased risk of contracting serious diseases. This was the first case of its type to go to trial. In affirming the jury's decision, the court found that there was not a "serious challenge to the jury's conclusion ... that exposure to [cigarette smoke] does not 'make it reasonably necessary for all class members to undergo periodic medical examinations different from what would be prescribed in the absence of exposure.'" Jeff Furr, the attorney for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company who served as the lead trial counsel for the tobacco industry, said, "The jury sent a clear message with its verdict: Tobacco companies are not liable for the inherent risks associated with smoking, and if smokers are concerned about those risks, they should quit -- not sue and continue to smoke. The West Virginia Supreme Court simply refused to upset the jury's verdict, rejecting the notion that healthy smokers and former smokers need, or would benefit from, the medical monitoring program that was proposed by the plaintiffs' lawyers." R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJRT) is a wholly owned subsidiary of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:RJR). R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is the second-largest tobacco company in the United States, manufacturing about one of every four cigarettes sold in the United States. Reynolds Tobacco's product line includes four of the nation's 10 best-selling cigarette brands: Camel, Winston, Salem and Doral. For more information about RJRT, visit the company's web site at http://www.rjrt.com/ . DATASOURCE: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company CONTACT: Ellen Wallace of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc., +1-336-741-6694, or cell, +1-336-829-9189 Web site: http://www.rjrt.com/

Copyright