At the start of the punitive damages phase, the Piendle v. R.J. Reynolds jury heard from former tobacco CEO Robert Heimann by video from a deposition taken in December, 1986. Mr. Heimann testified as to American Tobacco Company's conclusion that cigarettes were not injurious to health, and as to the research underlying this conclusion. Mr. Heimann testified that the surgeon general was "dead wrong" in concluding that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, and that a long list of health organizations denouncing cigarette smoking as hazardous were all wrong, even though he could not name any organization that had concluded otherwise.
