Judge approves settlement of secondhand smoke lawsuit

February 5, 1998
Web posted at: 5:22 p.m. EST (2222 GMT)

MIAMI (CNN) -- A Florida judge has approved the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against the tobacco industry by flight attendants, who claimed secondhand smoke sickened them.

The settlement was reached in October while the suit was being heard in a Miami court. It was the first-ever secondhand smoke case against the industry to go to trial.

Under the deal, tobacco companies will spend $300 million to start a foundation that would research the effects of secondhand smoke on flight attendants.

The agreement awards $49 million to the flight attendants' lawyers but would not provide money to the 60,000 flight attendants who were involved in the legal action. The attendants had sought $5 billion.

Dade County Circuit Judge Robert Kaye called the deal "fair, reasonable, adequate and in the best interest of the class of flight attendants."

The suit contended that tobacco companies were liable for the damage to the health of flight attendants who were exposed to secondhand cigarette smoke during airline flights.

The lead plaintiff in the case was Norma Broin, an American Airlines attendant 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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