First state tobacco case set for trial in Mississippi.

If pending "global" settlement negotiations break down, it could be a long, hot summer for the tobacco industry as the first lawsuits brought by state attorneys general head for trial.

The first case--which, like 22 other state suits, seeks reimbursement from the industry for Medicaid funds spent to treat smoking-related illnesses--gets underway June 2 in Mississippi. In March, the state supreme court rejected appeals by tobacco companies and Gov. Kirk Fordice, who argued that state Attorney General Mike Moore did not have standing to sue without the governor's permission. (In re CorrWilliams Tobacco Co., No. 96-M-00115-SCT, 1997 WL 109647 (Miss. Mar. 13, 1997); In re Kirk Fordice, No. 96-M-00114-SCT, 1997 WL 109649 (Miss. Mar. 13, 1997).)

The second case, brought by Florida, is scheduled to go to trial August 4. The industry's most recent attempt to derail it failed in March when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the industry's challenge to a 1994 Florida law authorizing the suit. The Court let stand a Florida high court decision that upheld most of the law's provisions. (Agency for Health Care Administration v. Associated Industries of Florida, 678 So. 2d 1239 (Flat 1996), cert. denied, 1996 WL 723400 (U.S. Mar. 17, 1997).)

A private case is also set for trial this summer. Proceedings in a class action brought on behalf of flight attendants exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke in airplanes are scheduled to begin June 2 in Dade County, Florida. (Broin v. Philip Morris Cos., No. 91-49738 CA (22) (Fla., Dade County Cir. Ct. filed Oct. 31, 1991).)

Richard Daynard, chair of Northeastern University's Tobacco Products Liability Project, said the upcoming trials are adding momentum to the antitobacco movement.

"The Liggett settlement was a great kickoff" to the summer trials, Daynard said, referring to the deal struck in March between the Liggett Group and the states suing the industry. Under the settlement, the company acknowledged that smoking is addictive and causes cancer. Liggett also agreed to turn over industry documents--including records of meetings by the Committee of Counsel, a group of attorneys for the major tobacco companies. The companies are fighting disclosure, saying that the documents are protected by attorney-client privilege.

Daynard predicted that courts would allow the documents to be used in the upcoming trials. "The privilege claims are quite weak," he said.

The Liggett settlement has increased pressure on the industry to seek a global settlement of tobacco-related claims. At TRIAL press time, industry executives were reportedly pushing for a deal that would immunize tobacco companies from future state claims for reimbursement of Medicaid costs as well as from individual and class-action lawsuits brought by consumers.

In return, the companies would agree to create a multimillion dollar fund to educate the public about the dangers of smoking and submit to FDA regulation of advertising. (John M. Broder, 2 Top Cigarette Makers Seek Settlement, N.Y. Times, Apr. 17, 1997, at A1.)

ATLA's Board of Governors is opposed to any global legislative settlement. In a recent statement, ATLA President Howard Twiggs noted that "The American people deserve to see every document and know every fact before some smoke-filled backroom deal is cut that permits the tobacco industry to buy its way out of responsibility for knowingly addicting and killing our parents, our neighbors, and our kids.

"Every document and every hidden fact must be disclosed before a secret agreement limiting the liability of these merchants of death is signed, sealed, and delivered."

If negotiations do falter, the docket of tobacco trials will continue in the fall, with a private class action of Florida smokers and the suit by the Texas attorney general set for September.