Tobacco giant does not have to hand over evidence
Publish date: 10 November 2004
Issue Number: 1214
Diary: Legalbrief Today
Category: General
British American Tobacco has been given a reprieve by the US Appeals Court which has ruled that it does not have to hand over a damaging internal memorandum.
The court overturned an order from Judge Gladys Kessler, who is hearing a $280bn lawsuit against cigarette makers, to the company to produce the document, known as the Foyle Memorandum. The 1990 memo, written by a UK lawyer, Andrew Foyle, contains advice to an Australian subsidiary of Bat, called BatCo, on what documents it should retain or could destroy, in the light of escalating tobacco litigation, reports the Financial Times. Bat argued that the document was privileged and could not be used in court. Full report in the Financial Times
