LAWYER CONTROL OF INTERNAL SCIENTIFIC-RESEARCH TO PROTECT AGAINST PRODUCTS-LIABILITY LAWSUITS - THE BROWN-AND-WILLIAMSON DOCUMENTS

Objective.-To understand how attorneys for the tobacco industry in gen eral, and Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation (B&W) in particular , have responded to the threat of products liability litigation arisin g from smoking-induced diseases. Data Sources.-Documents from B&W, the British American Tobacco Company (BAT), and other tobacco interests p rovided by an anonymous source, obtained from Congress, or received fr om the private papers of a former BAT officer. Study Selection.-All av ailable materials, including confidential reports regarding research a nd internal memoranda exchanged between tobacco industry lawyers. Conc lusions.-She documents demonstrate that the tobacco industry in genera l, and B&W in particular, were very concerned about the threat of prod ucts liability lawsuits, and they illustrate some of the steps taken b y lawyers at one company to avoid the discovery of documents that migh t be useful to a plaintiff in such a lawsuit, These steps included eff orts to control the language of scientific discourse on issues related to smoking and health, to bring all potentially damaging internal sci entific documents under attorney work product and attorney-client priv ilege to avoid discovery, to remove ''deadwood'' documents, and to ins ulate B&W from knowledge of potentially damaging scientific informatio n from other BAT companies.