The
Marshall
NEWS
 MESSENGER
MARSHALL, TEXAS SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1999
Suit by family of ‘Marlboro Man' will proceed in Marshall
Associated Press
A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit against the
tobacco industry by the family of the actor who appeared for years
as the Marlboro Man.
The 1996 lawsuit by Lilo McLean, wife of David McLean, named
several tobacco companies, including Marlboro cigarette maker
Philip Morris and was filed in the U.S. District Court in Marshall.
The case, which seeks unspecified damages, alleges that U.S.
cigarette makers conspired to hide facts regarding the addictive
nature of nicotine.
Mrs. McLean says her husband suffered from emphysema in the
late 1980s because of his nicotine addiction and later was stricken
with lung cancer. David McLean died in October 1995 at age 73.
Defendants asked U.S. District Judge David Folsom to throw
the case out, saying Texas law doesn't allow for lawsuits involving
addiction. But Folsom refused in an Aug. 13 ruling, said Don Howarth,
a Los Angeles attorney representing the McLean family.
Folsom certified his ruling for immediate appeal to the Fifth
Circuit Court of Appeals. If the appeals court upholds the ruling,
trial could begin early next year, plaintiffs attorneys said.
Tobacco industry representatives couldn't be reached for comment
Friday.
David McLean began his role as the rugged Marlboro pitchman
in the early 1960s, shortly before the U.S. Surgeon General's
1964 order that cigarettes be labeled with health warnings.
By the time the labels warning that the product "might
be dangerous to your health" were printed, he had been smoking
for more than 30 years.
The lawsuit claims that David McLean sometimes smoked five
packs of cigarettes while posing for a single commercial.
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