US appeals court upholds flight attendant's tobacco suit

MIAMI, Dec 22 (AFP) - A Florida appeals court on Wednesday upheld a lower court's decision to award 5.5 million dollars to a flight attendant who sued the tobacco industry over her exposure to cigarette smoke in airplanes, which she says caused her chronic sinusitis.
Lynn French flew with Trans World Airways for 26 years and claimed that she inhaled enough passengers' smoke to cause chronic sinusitis. Smoking was banned in US airlines in 1990.
Tobacco companies Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds, Brown and Williamson Tobacco and Lorillard were ordered in 2002 by a Miami court to pay French the 5.5 million dollars.
She was among thousands of flight attendants who sued the tobacco industry in 1991 for their exposure to second-hand smoke.

12/23/2004 02:06 GMT - AFP