So attached to cigarettes was John Galbraith, 69, that even while hospitalized with lung cancer, heart disease and emphysema, he would slip off his oxygen mask to sneak a smoke. Before death ended his 51-year, three-pack-a-day habit in 1982, Galbraith had filed a $1 million product-liability suit against R.J. Reynolds, contending that the company that marketed the Winstons and Camels he puffed so prodigiously fueled his addiction and thus killed him. But last week a jury in Santa Barbara, Calif., voted 9 to 3 that Galbraith's lawyer Melvin Belli had not proved that smoking necessarily caused Galbraith's death or that he...
Up in Smoke; A jury snuffs a cigarette suit
A jury snuffs a cigarette suit
Subscriber content preview.
or
Log-In
To continue reading:
or
Log-In