Jury to Deliberate in La. Tobacco Trial ($1B)

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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040519/ap_on_bi_ge/tobacco_trial_2

Jury to Deliberate in La. Tobacco Trial

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By ALAN SAYRE, AP Business Writer

NEW ORLEANS - Attorneys for Louisiana smokers want Big Tobacco to roll out $1 billion for a quit-smoking program — an expense that the industry says is unjustified and unneeded.

A state district court jury will begin deliberating Wednesday the second phase of a long-running class-action suit. In July, the same jury found that cigarette makers had deceived the public with an addictive product and schemed to market cigarettes to children.

The jury rejected calls for medical monitoring for present and former smokers in the state, but said the industry should have to provide free quit-smoking programs, setting up the trial's current phase that involved about two months of testimony.

The plaintiffs include any Louisiana resident who smoked before the mid-1990s when the suit was filed.