FRANCE:French tobacco suit targets four companies() (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

French tobacco suit targets four companies
Reuters (1583) 
Date: Monday, 2/15/99

Monday February 15, 2:29 pm Eastern Time

NANTES, France, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Four tobacco companies, one of which is
French, are the target of a legal action brought by regional health
insurer CAPM, sources close to the institution said on Monday. 

The companies are Seita of France, Philip Morris Cos Inc (NYSE:MO - news)
, Rothmans Inc (Toronto:ROC.TO - news) and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co of RJR
Nabisco Holdings Corp (NYSE:RN - news) . 

The sources said the details of the suit would be announced during a news
conference on Tuesday by the plaintiff, the CPAM of Saint Nazaire. 

The decision by the tribune of Saint Nazaire will form the first
jurisprudence in France, following several legal cases in the United
States. The legal action will be brought on Tuesday by Jacques Rousseau,
director of the primary health insurance fund for the Saint Nazaire
region, officials said. 

The officials said the fund spends an estimated 150 million francs ($26
million) a year treating illnesses tied to smoking. Fund lawyers believe
they have a solid legal case, they said. 

Originally five tobacco firms were targetted, but the suit will cite only
four, the sources said. 

Only two smokers in France, both of whom have lung cancer, have until now
sued tobacco companies seeking damages for the effects of tobacco on their
health. Both suits are still pending in the courts. 

In the United States last week, a San Francisco jury ordered Philip Morris
Cos to pay $51.5 million in damages to an ex-smoker with terminal cancer,
sounding an alarm throughout the tobacco industry.