ASSEMBLY LEADER SEEKS TO JOIN TOBACCO SUIT.

Byline: Paul Hefner Daily News Sacramento Bureau

Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante pledged Friday to try to strip tobacco companies of their shield under state liability laws to see that California gets a share of a landmark legal settlement with a cigarette maker.

Bustamante, D-Fresno, announced he and other Democrats would introduce urgency legislation to remove any barriers to making the state a party to a suit against tobacco firms brought earlier by more than a dozen other states.

The move came just a day after one of the defendants, the Liggett Group, agreed to help pay states involved in the case for the cost of treating sick smokers.

``Assembly Democrats want to make sure California taxpayers get back some of the money they've spent on tobacco-related illnesses,'' Bustamante said in a written statement. ``That won't happen if the Attorney General doesn't act, so we're closing the tobacco loophole and taking away any possible excuse for not suing the tobacco companies.''

For months before the settlement, Democrats had pushed Attorney General Dan Lungren to join other states in legal action against cigarette makers to recover the cost of treating those sick with tobacco-related illnesses.

State officials estimate that California has about 4 million smokers. One study put the annual cost of smoking-related illnesses in the state at more than $10 billion.

Lungren had refused to file suit, maintaining that the state's liability laws - rewritten in a controversial 1987 deal brokered by then-Speaker Willie Brown and State Sen. Bill Lockyer, D-Hayward - gave California no chance of winning. Manufacturers of products considered inherently unsafe were granted immunity from civil suits as part of the ``napkin deal'' a wide-ranging legislative compromise.

Lungren was attending a conference in Washington, D.C., on Friday and could not be reached for comment. But a Lungren spokesman said that if the bill Bustamante proposed is signed into law, California would likely join the case.

But Lt. Gov. Gray Davis blasted Lungren for hesitating. He said that other statutes give California all the power it needs to pursue claims against tobacco companies - before any new legislation is approved.

``There's simply no credible reason for Attorney General Dan Lungren not getting in the ring and fighting for Californians on this,'' Davis said.

Davis - like Lungren, a likely candidate for governor in 1998 - has brought his own suit against cigarette makers, which is due to be heard in court May 2.

His suit sidesteps the liability issue by claiming that cigarette makers had defrauded consumers and illegally targeted minors in their advertising.

``Nobody doubts the state's ability to sue for fraud,'' Davis said.

But Lungren spokesman Rob Stutzman disagreed and accused Davis of posturing to gain political advantage.

``His legal analysis is flawed,'' Stutzman said of Davis. ``This simply is not an issue the attorney general wants to politicize.''

In announcing the settlement, the Liggett Group also acknowledged that smoking causes heart disease and cancer - and that the industry targets underage youths in cigarette marketing.

The company also agreed to turn over thousands of pages of industry documents and to work with attorneys bringing suits against the industry.

States not already involved in the litigation have six months to join in the settlement.

But the Liggett Group settlement raised spirits among attorneys pursuing suits on behalf of cities and counties across the state - including Los Angeles County.

``I think getting the documents is going to be tremendously valuable,'' said Elizabeth Laporte, who as a lawyer for the San Francisco City Attorney's Office has served as lead counsel among a dozen counties that have brought suits against tobacco companies.

Los Angeles County filed its own suit against the major tobacco companies, including Liggett, last fall and the case was recently transferred to San Diego, according to county officials.

The Liggett admissions should substantially bolster the suit, said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who had pushed for its filing.

``I think the settlement, in terms of the release of documents, the admission that nicotine is addictive and harmful to health and that the companies have targeted kids, this is the backbone of our case,'' Yaroslavsky said.

The county wants to recover its costs, estimated at $300 million a year.