The State - News from March 12, 1986

A wrongful death lawsuit against the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. by the survivors of a man who had smoked for five decades has been settled, an attorney said. The survivors of John Mark Galbraith agreed to drop an appeal of a jury decision in favor of R.J. Reynolds after the tobacco company decided to waive $39,000 it had been awarded in court costs, said Galbraith family attorney Paul Monzione of San Francisco. “I felt it was in the best financial interest of my clients to do that rather than getting into an appeal and retrial with a case that presented difficult medical issues,” he said. “In trying the case, we accomplished quite a bit by focusing the public’s attention on the ill-health effects of smoking,” he said. “We did a lot of good. . . .” Attorneys for R. J. ReynolDs, could not be reached. A Santa Barbara Superior Court jury decided Dec. 23 that R. J. Reynolds was not liable for the death in 1982 of Galbraith, 69, because evidence did not indicate he was addicted to cigarettes.