Brooklyn, New York, May 3 (Bloomberg) -- R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. opened its defense in a lawsuit brought by an ex-smoker who suffers from lung cancer and emphysema, saying the Brooklyn man was fully aware of the risks of cigarettes during

``This case is about Clyde Anderson and the choices he made,'' said Reynolds' attorney, Stephen Kaczynski, referring to the 57-year old plaintiff. Reynolds is the main defendant in the case because Anderson smoked Salem, a Reynolds' brand, for 30 years. Other defendants include Philip Morris Cos., British American Tobacco Plc, Loews Corp. and Brooke Group Ltd. Anderson was a 19-year-old, married father with a full-time job when he first began smoking in 1961, Kaczynski said, calling Anderson's decision to use cigarettes an ``adult choice.'' After warning labels first appeared on cigarette packages in 1966, Anderson continued to smoke for another 27 years, Kaczynski said. The question for the jury is ``whether he should be excused from those choices and be paid money for perhaps making the wrong choice,'' Kaczynski said in his opening statement. The case is the first individual lawsuit against cigarette makers to go to trial since a San Francisco jury in March awarded more than $20 million to a California cancer victim. It's also the first tobacco case to go to trial in New York. Discouragement Anderson was diagnosed in April 1996 with emphysema and lung cancer, and filed suit in October 1997. While he was growing up, Anderson's parents discouraged smoking and his sister, a nurse, also warned him against cigarettes, Kaczynski said. Leonard Finz, Kaczynski's attorney, alleged in his opening statement yesterday and this morning that tobacco companies conspired to ``fraudulently conceal the dangers and hazards of cigarettes'' in the years before government-mandated health warnings on cigarette packs were toughened in 1969. ``Once he started to smoke in 1961, he was hooked, and being hooked, he was addicted,'' his lawyer added. Kaczynski said that when Anderson finally decided to quit smoking in 1993, he did so without the help of nicotine patches, nicotine gum, counseling or hypnosis. Of the 13 jurors and alternates chosen for the case, 11 are black, as is Anderson. Twelve of the 13 jurors and alternates are women. Only six of the 13 will actually decide the case after testimony is completed. The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks, Finz said. Other Cases Analysts have downplayed the San Francisco verdict, along with two other West Coast losses by the industry last year, as the products of state laws and juries that tend to favor plaintiffs. In the aftermath of the California verdict, the Anderson case will be closely watched, analysts said. The California verdict was significant because the plaintiff in that case, Leslie Whiteley, didn't start smoking until after 1969. Tobacco companies had previously believed that warning labels provided them with legal protection against allegations that they misled smokers about the risks of cigarettes. Another closely watched case is the so-called Engle trial in Miami. A six-member jury has already found the tobacco industry responsible for the smoking-related illnesses of as many as 500,000 Florida smokers and has awarded three individuals $12.7 million in compensatory damages. Later this month, lawyers for the smokers will try to persuade the jurors to award punitive damages against the tobacco companies in that case, which is the first class-action suit over smoking-related deaths and illnesses to go to trial. Damages in the case could cost the industry hundreds of billions of dollars, analysts have said. Meanwhile, cigarette makers -- who so far have succeeded in fending off lawsuits by union health plans and foreign governments seeking to recover money spent treating sick smokers -- still face a U.S. Justice Department suit. The government seeks billions of dollars it says it spent through Medicare and other federal health programs to treat smoking-related illnesses.

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