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Tobacco ruling reversed
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June 22, 1998: 5:53 p.m. ET
Florida appeals court rules Grady Carter waited too long to bring suit
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - In a stunning reversal, a Florida appeals court Monday overturned a landmark 1996 ruling against Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. (B&W) in a lawsuit brought on behalf of a sick smoker.
According to a 12-page opinion, the three-judge panel of the First District Court of Appeals for the state of Florida ruled the plaintiff, Grady Carter, was barred by the statute of limitations.
In addition, the appeals court ruled Carter's claims of misrepresentation were pre-empted by the federal Cigarette Labeling Act that went into effect in 1969. That statute required first-ever warnings on cigarette packs of the health risks of smoking.
The reversal comes amid an embarrassing setback for the $516 million settlement, which was defeated last week in Congress. In response to the Senate inability to legislate, President Bill Clinton Monday sought to shame the cigarette industry and punish its political allies by ordering the government to track which brands are favored by underage smokers.
Carter was awarded $750,000 by a federal district court on Aug. 9, 1996, after a Jacksonville, Fla., jury found B&W liable for Orange Park, Fla., resident's health problems. After 44 years of smoking, Carter was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1991.
The 1996 verdict was only the second time in 40 years of tobacco litigation that a jury ordered a company to pay damages in a smoking liability case.
In 1988, a jury awarded $400,000 to the family of Rose Cipollone of New Jersey in a similar product liability case. The 1988 award was also overturned on appeal.
In a telephone interview with CNN, Carter said he was disappointed.
"I hope it doesn't keep other people from bringing suits against the tobacco companies," Carter said. "Someone will win."
Carter, a retired air traffic controller, said he is in good health.
"I really didn't do it for the money," he said. "I never count any money until it's in my pocket anyway. But I'm disappointed for a lot of reasons."
Norwood "Woody" Wilner, the attorney who scored the victory in the Carter case, was not immediately available to comment on Monday. He had scored his second big victory over tobacco earlier this month, when another Jacksonville jury returned a judgment of nearly $1 million against Brown & Williamson in a case brought by the family of a smoker who died of lung cancer last year.
Brown & Williamson is a unit of B.A.T Industries Plc. (BTI)
-- from staff and wire reports
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Brown & Williamson
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