OTHER NEWS - April 8, 1995

R.J. Reynolds Wins Smoking Case: A federal judge this week ruled in favor of the tobacco maker in a lawsuit brought by a smoker’s widow, the company said, handing anti-smoking forces another in an unbroken string of legal defeats. In Houston, U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore issued a summary judgment for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and other defendants in the case, the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based company said. The company, part of RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp., said the decision reaffirms that consumers should have no basis for damage suits with a product such as cigarettes. The suit alleged fraud, negligence, breach of warranty and strict liability for design defect and failure to warn. It sought actual and punitive damages, the company said.