No decision from jury yet in tobacco trial

NEW ORLEANS -- Jurors worked through the day without reaching a decision Friday in a case claiming cigarette companies should be required to pay for medical monitoring for 1.5 million Louisiana smokers and for programs to help smokers quit.

The jurors must answer 67 questions to determine the facts of the class-action lawsuit against Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard. Based on their answers, Judge Richard Ganucheau will determine whether the case goes to a second phase on monitoring programs.

The plaintiffs, who are not seeking individual monetary damages, contend the manufacturers hid the dangers of smoking from the public, manipulated nicotine levels to keep smokers hooked and targeted youths with advertising.

Industry attorneys countered that the dangers of smoking have been well-known for years and that smokers made the choice to light up.

The companies also said that medical monitoring for smokers is not recommended by any major health group and that such tests are unreliable and could lead to unnecessary and life-threatening follow-ups. They also said enough quit-smoking programs already exist.

Testimony has taken six months. The jurors got the case late Thursday and began deliberations on Friday morning. Within two hours they asked the judge to define "addiction" and "habit" -- setting off a legal wrangle.

In the end, Ganucheau gave them no further definitions and told them to go on with their deliberations as best they could.

There has been no estimate of what a loss might cost the tobacco industry. However, a smaller class-action lawsuit in West Virginia that sought only medical monitoring carried a potential price tag of hundreds of millions of dollars.

In that case, attorneys for smokers prevailed in their argument that a person with a five-year, pack-a-day habit has a higher risk of disease. But the jury found that routine medical screening was not necessary and that concerned smokers should just quit.

Deliberations resume Monday at 9:30 a.m.