UP IN SMOKE

Tobacco companies in the UK got a temporary reprieve when the Legal Aid Board, which grants public funds to needy litigants, refused to fund a case filed by smokers seeking billions of dollars in damages. Unless private money can be found to fund the case, 300 people suffering from lung cancer and other smoking-related diseases will have to drop the case. The US $23.4 million lawsuit involving Imperial Tobacco, Rothmans, British and American Tobacco, Gallaghers and Philip Morris, is by far the most important smokers' litigation in the UK. The smokers are demanding US $15.6 billion in damages.