Hanauer P, Slade J, Barnes D E, Bero L, Glantz S A
Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
JAMA. 1995 Jul 19;274(3):234-40.
To understand how attorneys for the tobacco industry in general, and Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation (B&W) in particular, have responded to the threat of products liability litigation arising from smoking-induced diseases.
Documents from B&W, the British American Tobacco Company (BAT), and other tobacco interests provided by an anonymous source, obtained from Congress, or received from the private papers of a former BAT officer.
All available materials, including confidential reports regarding research and internal memoranda exchanged between tobacco industry lawyers.
The documents demonstrate that the tobacco industry in general, and B&W in particular, were very concerned about the threat of products liability lawsuits, and they illustrate some of the steps taken by lawyers at one company to avoid the discovery of documents that might be useful to a plaintiff in such a lawsuit. These steps included efforts to control the language of scientific discourse on issues related to smoking and health, to bring all potentially damaging internal scientific documents under attorney work product and attorney-client privilege to avoid discovery, to remove "deadwood" documents, and to insulate B&W from knowledge of potentially damaging scientific information from other BAT companies.
了解一般烟草行业的律师，特别是布朗威廉姆森烟草公司（B&W），如何应对因吸烟所致疾病引发的产品责任诉讼威胁。
由匿名来源提供、从国会获取或从前英美烟草公司（BAT）一名高管的私人文件中收到的来自B&W、英美烟草公司（BAT）及其他烟草相关方的文件。
所有可得材料，包括有关研究的机密报告以及烟草行业律师之间交换的内部备忘录。
这些文件表明，一般烟草行业，特别是B&W，非常担心产品责任诉讼的威胁，并且它们展示了一家公司的律师为避免发现可能对这类诉讼中的原告有用的文件而采取的一些措施。这些措施包括努力控制有关吸烟与健康问题的科学论述语言，将所有可能有损害的内部科学文件置于律师工作成果和律师-客户特权之下以避免被发现，清除“无用”文件，以及使B&W不了解来自其他英美烟草公司的可能有损害的科学信息。
