Tony Gwynn's family files wrongful death suit against tobacco industry
Nearly two years after his death, the family of Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn is looking for retribution. Specifically, they want to hold tobacco companies accountable for the salivary gland cancer that Gwynn suffered after a lifetime of using smokeless tobacco.
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So, the Gwynn family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Monday saying he was manipulated into a lifelong battle with chewing tobacco through free samples handled out to him when he was a student at San Diego State in the late '70s and marketing materials from that era that misled the public about the harm of chewing tobacco. Writes Tyler Kepner of the New York Times:
The suit was filed in Superior Court in San Diego against Altria Group Inc., the tobacco giant formerly known as Philip Morris, and several other defendants who are accused of inducing Gwynn to begin using smokeless tobacco, or dip, at San Diego State University, which he attended from 1977 to 1981 and where he later coached after a 20-year career with the San Diego Padres.
For 31 years — 1977 to 2008 — Gwynn used one and a half to two cans of smokeless tobacco (usually Skoal) per day. It was the equivalent, the suit says, of four to five packs of cigarettes every day for 31 years. Gwynn would dip Skoal immediately upon waking up, the suit said, and sometimes fall asleep with the product in his right lip and cheek area.
There are no damages specified in the complaint, which asks for a jury trial on grounds of negligence, fraud and product liability. Essentially, the complaint says that Gwynn, while in college, was the victim of a scheme to get him, a rising star athlete, addicted to smokeless tobacco, while knowing the dangers it posed to him. The suit says that the industry was undergoing a determined effort at the time to market its products to African-Americans, and that Gwynn was a “marketing dream come true” for the defendants.
Interestingly, the Gwynn family's suit doesn't ask for any specific damages. Rather, attorney David S. Casey wants the jury to hear the case and decide for itself what would be a proper punishment. Gwynn made $47 million in salary alone from his playing days, so this doesn't appear to be just a cash grab.
His son, Tony Gwynn Jr., told the New York Times, his father wouldn't have wanted to see more people die because of their addictions. The suit details Gwynn's struggles to quit over the years and how even cutting back led to depression, craving, anxiety and insomnia.
“He wouldn’t want to see another person have to get sick and die because of what the tobacco companies did,” Gwynn Jr. said. “And in order to make that happen, these companies have to be held accountable.”
Baseball is currently going through a change as it pertains to smokeless tobacco. It's been banned at ballparks by local governments in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and New York City, meaning that baseball players in those cities can't use smokeless tobacco. Even before that, MLB has banned the use of smokeless tobacco in the minor leagues, hoping to break the cycle that the Gwynn family's lawsuit says claimed the life of the Padres icon.
A law professor interviewed by the New York Times said the Gwynn family could have a strong case. Richard A. Daynard, who specializes in tobacco liability litigation, told The Times that the tobacco industry's knowledge of the harmful effects of smokeless tobacco back then mixed with Gwynn's celebrity could lead to a favorable outcome for the plaintiffs.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
