Gabrielle Van der Velde is determined to make a tobacco company pay for her husband's death.
Jump to full article: Electronic Telegraph (uk), 2002-11-22
Author: Judith Woods
Intro: Doctors at the London hospital where he was treated blamed smoking for his death, at the age of 46, in 2000. As a result, Van der Velde is launching the first UK action against the American tobacco industry through the US courts.
She is seeking unlimited damages from Philip Morris, the makers of Marlboro, the brand her husband smoked from the age of 12. If successful, she could be awarded upwards of £25 million.
"People have told me I'm disgusting, that I'm trying to profit from my husband's death," says Van der Velde, 42. "But they have no idea of the torture he endured, or the hell we've been through as a family. It was my husband who started this court action, but I have to follow it through. I'm not putting a price on his life - I simply want justice."
Sitting in her north London home, surrounded by framed family photographs, Van der Velde cuts a forlorn figure. She was hospitalised with a nervous breakdown shortly after her husband's death and, although she is still on anti-depressants, recently had a relapse.
Her eyes frequently cloud over with tears and she seems woefully ill-cast as the heroine at the centre of this David and Goliath clash. . .
Van der Velde's anger is as raw as her grief. Yet the fact remains that her husband smoked of his own free will, despite health warnings about just how much damage cigarettes could do. . .
Philip Morris has stated that if her case is successful, it could open the floodgates for smokers in the UK - and worldwide - to launch legal action in the American courts.
A preliminary hearing is due in eight weeks, when a decision will be taken on whether litigation can take place in the US. . .
In Britain, the picture is more complex. In Scotland, the wife of a deceased smoker is taking legal action against Imperial Tobacco. But in England, litigation on behalf of more than 50 lung cancer victims collapsed in 1999. . .
"Should the American courts accept the case, I'm very confident that Mrs Van der Velde will succeed," says Alan Care, who is handling the British side of her case, also on a no-win, no-fee basis.
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