[Intl-tobacco] Ecuador drops anti-tobacco suit, Philip Morris says

[Robert Weissman]

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Subject: ENEWS: Ecuador drops anti-tobacco suit, Philip Morris says
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Ecuador drops anti-tobacco suit, Philip Morris says

by Michael Connor / Miami newsroom, +1 305-374-5013, fax +1 305-358-6317, or 
miami.newsroom@reuters.com
ECUADOR/FL;
Source: Reuters, Tuesday, 4/17/01
MIAMI, April 17 (Reuters) - Ecuador's government has dropped a lawsuit against 
U.S. cigarette makers blamed for economic losses caused by lung cancer and 
other tobacco-related illnesses, tobacco-giant Philip Morris said on Tuesday.

The Miami judge overseeing the case brought by the Republic of Ecuador on 
Monday said at a state court hearing that he would dismiss the case if the 
plaintiffs did not voluntarily withdraw the complaint accusing the maker of 
Marlboros, Philip Morris, and others of selling dangerous products.

Ecuador has pulled the lawsuit, a spokesman for Philip Morris said, adding the 
move was just the latest in a string of losses in American state and federal 
courts for liability suits filed against the industry by foreign governments.

``This decision should be a clear signal to the attorneys pursuing these 
lawsuits that state courts will be as hostile to these claims as the federal 
courts,'' said William Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris associate general counsel.

A Miami lawyer for Ecuador, which had also named R.J. Reynolds Tobacco  in the 
eight-count suit, could not be immediately reached for comment. The suit had 
sought unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Similar anti-tobacco lawsuits by Honduras, Russia, other countries and state 
governments in Brazil are still pending in Miami, where a jury last year stung 
America's big cigarette makers with a record-high $145 billion civil judgment 
on behalf of Florida's sick smokers.



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