S-2930               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 6130

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Senators Talmadge and Kreidler

Read first time 4/6/89 and referred to Committee on  Law & Justice.

AN ACT Relating to injuries caused by exposure to tobacco or tobacco products; adding a new section to chapter 7.72 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The legislature finds that individuals who have consumed tobacco or tobacco products and subsequently develop debilitating illnesses experience difficulty in  obtaining sufficient scientific and medical evidence in establishing causation, often leaving the victim without a remedy.  It is unreasonable to expect or require the plaintiff to initiate and conduct the massive research necessary to prove causation when such  research takes vast resources beyond the ability of the ordinary consumer of tobacco or tobacco products.  Therefore the legislature finds that shifting much of the burden of proof to the defendant in such cases does not place an undue burden on defendants as the legislature finds that the defendants' problem of producing sufficient scientific evidence to disprove causation is minimal compared to the hardships imposed on the victims left without a remedy.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 7.72 RCW to read as follows:

          In any action in which it is alleged that the plaintiff's injury was caused by exposure to tobacco or tobacco products, the plaintiff establishes causation for purposes of this chapter if the plaintiff used tobacco or tobacco products and incurs cancer of the lungs or larynx, heart disease, or emphysema.    The burden then shifts to the defendant or defendants to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that exposure to tobacco or tobacco products was not the cause of the plaintiff's injury.