Dec 4, 2008 3:54 pm US/Eastern
Mistrial Declared In Smoker Suit Over "N" Word
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
A mistrial has been declared in a Cooper City's woman suit against Big Tobacco after a witness used the "N word" on the stand.
Elaine Hess filed the suit against Philip Morris on behalf of her late husband, Stuart Hess, who she said smoked for 40 years and tried everything from nicotine gum to hypnosis to quit, but nothing worked. He died of lung cancer in 1997. This suit is the first one to come to trial since the Florida's Supreme Court threw out a $145 billion punitive damage award against cigarette makers won in a class action suit two years ago.
CBS4 news partners at The Miami Herald report Stanford University professor Robert Proctor used the racial slang in response to a Philip Morris lawyer's question about racism in the tobacco industry. Hess attorney Gary Paige said Proctor is writing a book on racism in the tobacco industry and described the terms he used to search of the tobacco industry's archives.
An attorney for Philip Morris objected to the term and asked for a mistrial. The judge then granted the request, calling the term ''prejudicial.''
Hess's suit is just one of about 8 thousand waiting to heard after the high court tossed the multi-billion class action suit award in 2006, but ruled that the plaintiffs could sue the companies in individual suits. In their ruling, the state Supreme Court justices upheld the jury's findings that the tobacco companies sold dangerous products and deceived smokers about the addictive nature of smoking.
To win, Hess's attorneys will have to prove that not only was Stuart Hess addicted to cigarettes, but that his lung cancer was caused by his addiction to smoking.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)
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