Milton Joshua Horowitz

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This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

Milton Joshua Horowitz was plaintiff in the first successful lawsuit against the Lorillard Tobacco Company for using asbestos in their Micronite filter between 1952-1957.

In 1995, lawyer Madelyn Chaber represented Horowitz, who had mesothelioma (a deadly malignant tumor of the lining of the lung that is considered the hallmark cancer caused by asbestos exposure). Horowitz had never worked in an industry or occupation typically associated with asbestos exposure or the disease. Chaber discovered that Horowitz had smoked Kent cigarettes with a Micronite filter containing asbestos between 1952-1957.

The jury in San Francisco ruled in plaintiff's favor in September, 1995. Lorillard eventually paid the initial compensatory damages when the California Supreme Court declined to review the case, and the punitive damages a year later after the Supreme Court of the United States turned down their appeal. It was the first time a cigarette company ever cut a check in favor of a plaintiff upon the order of a jury verdict.

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