Lawsuit seeking $1 billion claims tobacco companies targeted black smokers       
 
By Brad Bennett
Broward (Fla.) Times
(June 8, 2007) A Coral Gables attorney on Wednesday filed suit against several tobacco companies, accusing them of targeting black consumers.  
 
Attorney J.B. Harris is seeking more than $1 billion in damages on behalf of Gloria Tucker of Coral Springs, a black woman whose mother and grandmother died of health problems related to smoking.  
Tucker’s mother, Dorothy Oliver, died on Nov. 29, 2000. Her grandmother, Annie Mae Swain, died on July 5, 1994.  
 
Citing marketing documents from the tobacco companies, the suit claims they used unflattering generalizations about African-Americans and suggested recruiting black smokers through – among other venues – black churches, night- clubs, and traffic court, where they said 75 percent of the pedestrian traffic on weekdays is black. “In addition to placing into the stream of commerce products that defendants knew or should have known were dangerous and defective, they did so with complete and utter disregard for health and human safety, and in a systematic and deliberate manner meant to addict and ultimately kill as many smokers as possible, especially African-Americans, whose lives were cut short by defendants’ reckless and outrageous conduct, including without limitation, the lives of Dorothy Oliver and Annie Mae Swain,’’ the lawsuit states.  
 
The suit, filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, is an outgrowth of the Engle class-action lawsuit from the 1990s alleging that cigarette makers were “cynical and exploitive’’ in marketing that preyed upon black communities.  
 
“In doing so, defendants knowingly besieged the most vulnerable and beleaguered segments of society, including the least educated, poor, inner-city African-Americans, many on public support, including food stamps,’’ Harris wrote in the lawsuit.  
 
Attorneys for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Lorillard Tobacco Company and Liggett, Brooke Group, Ltd., Inc., could not be immediately reached for comment.
 
Philip Morris USA issued the following statement: “Philip Morris USA believes it is premature to comment on any specific lawsuits filed that are linked to the Engle case because the company currently is seeking further review of the Engle decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. However, if any individual cases do proceed, the company intends to vigorously defend them.’’
 
In his lawsuit, Harris cites government and tobacco company documents showing a higher incidence of billboards advertising tobacco products in black neighborhoods. He also said tobacco companies targeted the black community by paying above-market rates for advertising in black-focused publications such as Ebony, Jet and Essence.  
 
Wednesday’s lawsuit was filed in the wake of a Florida Supreme Court ruling last year that decertified the class of Florida smokers who won a $145 billion punitive damages verdict against the major cigarette makers in 2000, Harris said.  
 
Florida smokers have until Jan. 11, 2008, to seek damages under that verdict, he said.  


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