Who is Marie Evans?
Posted by
Armand RossettiFebruary 10, 2007 2:32 AMIn 1957, if you asked anyone at the top at Lorillard Tobacco in North Carolina, who Marie Evans was, you probably would have gotten a response, "I don't know; Never heard of her." But she was a real nine-year-old little black girl, innocently playing with other kids, hundreds of miles away, at the Orchard Park housing complex in Roxbury, Massachusetts, a poor community in Boston.
One Lorillard employee probably did not know Marie by name, but knew her by sight as the energetic little girl who ran around on the edge of the playground, and always came running over to his truck when he handed out free 4-packs, or on some occasions, 10-packs, of Newport cigarettes to the kids. Yeah, she was a little girl, he thought. The kids, they were all very young and they didn't understand that smoking was a bad habit, but it was a living for him. I'm sure the deliveryman didn't think of himself as a child batterer. And Marie Evans, she was further hooked by Newport advertising targeted at African-Americans and the pleasure of receiving "gifts" smoking some and trading others for the candy she couldn't afford to buy at the corner variety store.
Today, a host of Lorillard attorneys have gotten to know Marie Evans. Two years after his mother died of smoking-related disease, Marie's son, Will Evans filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. After the Complaint was served, the following Lorillard attorneys got to know Marie very well: Walter L. Cofer, Gay L. Tedder, Suzanne M. Teeven, and David M. Woods, of Shook, Hardy & Bacon as parties in interest; Andrew J. McElaney, Jr., Scott E. Erlich, Timothy D. Johnston, of Nutter McClennen & Fish, LLP; and Paige A. Scott Reed, and Walter B. Prince, a former Assistant United States Attorney with 30 years of experience with white collar criminal activity, and former Chief of the Major Drug Traffickers Prosecution Unit...of Prince, Lobel, Glovsky & Tye, LLP. Attorney Prince is an African-American, just like Marie was.
As soon as the complaint was served in June of 2004, Lorillard's attorneys pounced on the case and set up the usual tactics of paper-pepper and delay: i.e., Removal to federal court in August 2004; a return to state court, a motion to extend time to respond to the Complaint, and a motion to submit opposition in excess of 20 pages, and another to file a motion not in excess of 40 pages in May 2005; a Motion to Dismiss in July 2005; a letter to Justice Mitchell Sikors, requesting leave to file a memorandum in support of Lorillard's Motion to Dismiss, which the court denied in September 2005; A Motion to Strike the transcript of the April 14, 1994 proceedings before the Congressional Subcommittee on Health and Environment in January 2006; an Emergency Motion to stay decision of defendants' Motions to Dismiss pending interlocutory appeal in February 2006 (which Lorillard attorneys knew well would be denied because a court order had not yet issued);an oral motion for a judge's recusal in March 2006 (Judge Connolly finally recused himself); a request for special assignment to a particular judge, which was denied in July 2006; and a notice of taking deposition ruling in July 2006, among others .
Perhaps the most important decision in the Evans case was the latest decision that Judge Troy handed down inFebruary 2007. He denied in part, Lorillard's Motion to Dismiss. Lorillard had argued that it should not be held liable for any harm to Marie Evans that occurred after 1969, when Congress required cigarette companies to place warning labels on cigarette packs. Lorillard focused its argument on the fact that Marie Evans' health problems did not begin until she had suffered a heart attack in 1984 (when she was 36 years old).
In rejecting Lorillard's argument, Judge Troy concluded that Lorillard could still be found negligent for injury to its consumers, despite the warning label regulation. The judge also allowed Marie Evans' estate to proceed with other claims, including that cigarette giveaways violated a law against providing cigarettes to minors. The case could go to trial by the end of 2007.
Mark Gottlieb , Director of the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University called the Troy ruling a victory for anti-tobacco advocates. The Evans case is one of the few that has not been dismissed before trial.
Unfortunately, Marie Evans is not around to greet her new attorney acquaintances, and as a nine-year-old child, she would never have fathomed this situation ever occurring. After all, it was fun receiving gifts and sharing them with her friends, feeling important, and being dazzled by minority targeted advertising.
As Lorillard's deliveryman might have said to himself, long ago while parked at the edge of the Orchard Park playground, "She doesn't know any better anyhow; she's just a kid, and this is just another job."
There ought to be a penalty.