[Intl-tobacco] Australians take lead from US tobacco damages (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Australians take lead from US tobacco damages
Source: AAP (Australian Associated Press), Saturday, 7/15/00

SYDNEY - Australian anti-smoking campaigners have vowed to step up legal
action in light of a landmark decision against tobacco giants in the
United States.

The Australian Cancer Society and Tobacco Control Coalition say the
decision to award $A240 billion in damages to hundreds of thousands of
sick Florida smokers should have a roll-on effect in Australia.

The NSW Cancer Council chief and Tobacco Control Coalition convenor Dr
Andrew Penman said Australian tobacco companies were also guilty of
negligence, fraud, conspiracy and endangering the lives of those addicted
to their product.

In March, Melbourne law firm Slater and Gordon's class action against
individual tobacco companies was struck out of the Federal Court on
technical grounds.

Last September, the Tobacco Control Coalition, which represents a class of
more than a million and a half Australian smokers, launched its case in
the Federal Court.

The difference between the two Australian class actions was that the
coalition's action centres on addicted smokers, not those with illnesses,
and on the "conspiracy and conspiratorial action among tobacco companies".

Slater and Gordon emphasised the individual action of individual
companies, and they found that the action couldn't be brought
collectively, Dr Penman said.

"The American case is very similar to the case we're now pleading in the
Australian courts and the US precedent weighs very heavily in the
Australian context," he said.

"For more than 30 years, the tobacco companies have engaged in an
international conspiracy to try and confuse the Australian public that
smoking was not harmful.

"This decision destroy's the industry's defence that tobacco is a legal
product and that the industry is legitimate business."

American tobacco lawyers have pledged to spend years appealing against the
jury's stinging liability and damages verdicts and may negotiate a more
modest settlement.

Australian Cancer Society chief executive Professor Alan Coates said
smoking killed 18,000 Australians each year or one every 30 minutes.