Smokers hindered in suing — ASH

Press, 16 August 1988, Page 9

Smokers hindered in suing — ASH

By

MICHAEL RENTOUL

Smokers mounting damages claims against tobacco companies in New Zealand continue to face financial and legal barriers to success, in spite of a recent precedent-setting case in the United States, says the anti-smoking group, ASH. The group’s director, Ms Deirdre Kent, said there were five New Zealanders who intended suing in the wake of a successful claim in June against the United States tobacco company, the Ligget group, by the widower of Mrs Rose Cipollone, who died of lung cancer. But Ms Kent said they faced $lO,OOO to $20,000 research costs before a case could even be brought to court. Legal aid is restricted in most cases to applicants with disposable yearly income and disposable capital totalling $4OOO. The five comprise two with lung cancer, one with emphysema and two addicts. Two had smoked American cigarettes as well as domestic brands, which would mean even higher costs, she said. One man who had smoked domestic brands only had a claim under the

Accident Compensation scheme rejected on the grounds that smoking caused self-induced illness and did not constitute personal injury by accident.

Ms Kent said a claim against tobacco companies had never been launched in New Zealand. It was no longer necessary to prove to a jury the link between lung cancer and smoking, but the claimant had to have started smoking before the 1971 Health Department warnings and a negligence charge would need to show how much the tobacco company knew about their product at a certain time. In the United States case, the company was found not guilty of wilfully misrepresenting its product, but it was found to know in the 1950 s that smoking caused lung cancer. Damages of $NZ572,000 paid by the company covered only the defendant’s expenses, and amounted to only 20 per cent of the total claim, Ms Kent said. A spokesman for the Justice Department said eligibility criteria for legal aid would probably include an assessment of the likelihood of a claim being successful.