Casino employees sue tobacco companies over secondhand smoke

Wednesday, April 29, 1998 | 12:02 p.m.

The suit, filed in Atlantic County Superior Court, targets eight tobacco companies and the Tobacco Institute Inc. on behalf of the city's non-smoking casino employees and seeks class-action status.

Joseph Avallone, Gerri Murphy, Joan Zaryck and Joe Yaniak - all employees of Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino - said they have suffered "substantial injuries and damages," from mental and emotional suffering to medical treatment costs and loss of income. They are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as legal fees.

But their attorneys would not comment on the exact nature of the problems, The Press of Atlantic City reported Wednesday.

"These are people who need help, and they need protection from these (tobacco) companies," said Perry Nicosia, a New Orleans lawyer handling a similar case filed by casino dealers in Nevada and one of three lawyers representing the Trump Plaza plaintiffs.

"We plan on showing that tobacco smoke increases each and every person's risk of cancer, heart disease and other illnesses."

The employees also are seeking an award for medical monitoring, in which medical professionals would screen them for problems related to secondhand smoke over the long term, their attorneys said.

To back up their claims, the employees cited a March 1996 study at Bally's Park Place in which investigators concluded that casino employees are at greater risk for lung cancer and heart disease because of their exposure to secondhand smoke on the job.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health studied 29 non-smoking dealers and supervisors at Bally's and took air samples on the casino floor over three days. The results were published last month in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

The named defendants are the American Tobacco Co.; Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co.; Phillip Morris Inc.; Liggett & Myers Inc.; Lorillard Tobacco Co.; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; United States Tobacco Co.; and Dosal Tobacco Corp. The Tobacco Institute was named as an agent of the companies.

Tobacco companies said they had not seen the lawsuit.

Nat Walker, a spokesman for R.J. Reynolds, said federal courts have concluded that such lawsuits aren't suited for class-action status.