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| S P E C I A L | Tobacco Under Attack |
Settlement reached in secondhand smoke trial
October 10, 1997
Web posted at: 10:14 a.m. EDT (1414 GMT)MIAMI (CNN) -- A settlement was reached Friday between the tobacco industry and flight attendants, who filed a lawsuit claiming secondhand smoke sickened them.
The settlement was said to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, but the exact amount was not immediately disclosed.
Attorneys for both sides met Friday with Dade County Circuit Court Judge Robert Kaye to discuss the settlement.
In the class-action suit, 60,000 nonsmoking flight attendants sued the tobacco industry for $5 billion. They maintained they were suffering from cancer and smoking-related illnesses from years of flying aboard jetliners before smoking was banned on domestic flights in 1990.
It was the first class-action lawsuit against the tobacco industry to reach court.
The lead plaintiff in the case is Norma Broin, a Mormon who was diagnosed in 1989 with an aggressive form of lung cancer. She said she "never took one puff on a cigarette."
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Related stories:
- Big tobacco tells its side in airline smoking case - September 22, 1997
- Jurors reminded of evils of secondhand smoke - August 20, 1997
- Secondhand smoke trial under way - June 2, 1997
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