A truck driver who for 11 years routinely drove in an enclosed truck with a co-worker who smoked Raleigh cigarettes, developed lung cancer, which was diagnosed in 1992.  Shaw and his wife sued Brown & Williamson, alleging: battery; product liability/defective design; inherently unreasonable risk; manufacturing defect; strict liability; negligent misrepresentation; implied warranty of merchantability; and loss of consortium.  Plaintiffs seek $1 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.  The Defendant filed a motion to dismiss.  On August 15, 1997, the U.S. District Court (Black, J.), at 973 F. Supp. 539, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12595, allowed the case to go forward, dismissing three of Shaw’s ten counts.  See “Maryland Trucker Sues Over Second-Hand Smoke,” The Daily Record (Baltimore), August 19, 1997, 13; and Cheshire, M., “Secondhand Smoke Case Survives Test: Baltimore Fed Court to Hear Case Brought by Cancer-Stricken Trucker,” The Daily Record (Baltimore), August 20, 1997, 1.

Shaw, et al., v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., No. B-95-3280, D. Md. (1995).