The $145 billion punitive damage award that a Miami jury slapped on the tobacco industry last week is ridiculous, say some Moore County tobacco growers.

Tony Matthews, who raises tobacco between Vass and Carthage, and Sam Blue, a semi-retired grower in the Eureka community, agree that the industry cannot stand such a huge punitive judgment. They fear that eventually some effect will be felt at the local level.

“It’s ridiculous. It’s outright ridiculous,” Matthews said. “No company can stand pressure like that.”

Blue said that tobacco growers have become a scapegoat.

“It’s one of the most ridiculous verdicts I’ve ever heard,” Blue said. “It’s not fair to anybody. The amount is out of reason. The companies can’t stand that.”

Eagle Springs grower Billy Carter said it is “unfortunate the growers have to get caught up in all this.” Carter is president of the Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina and thus serves as a spokesman for tobacco farmers.

“All we are trying to do is make a living raising a legal product,” Carter said.

The jury verdict returned in Florida Friday is the largest punitive damage award in U.S. history. The same jury had previously determined that the tobacco industry was responsible for the diseases suffered by thousands of Florida smokers.

‘Farmers Are Upset’

Attorneys representing the tobacco companies pledged to appeal the verdict and damage award. They also predicted that their clients would never pay a dime of the money.

It was the first class-action lawsuit on behalf of sick and ailing smokers to reach trial.

The $145 billion exceeds the actual market value of each company. Philip Morris, the largest of the five, has a market value of $56.6 billion but faces a judgment of $73.96 billion in the case. R.J. Reynolds is next with a market value placed at $2.7 billion; the company’s judgment amounts to $36.28 billion. The other three defendants in the case are Brown & Williamson, Lorillard and Liggett Group.

Such a suit is not likely to be brought in North Carolina, one of 46 states whose attorneys general reached a settlement agreement two years ago with the major tobacco companies. Under that agreement, the companies are paying billions to each state as compensation for health problems attributed to the use of tobacco products.

In North Carolina, that money is being spent in the form of direct payments to tobacco farmers, payments to communities dependent upon the tobacco economy and to the state for public health expenses. Farmers, along with quota owners, are being compensated for financial losses brought on by sharp quota and allotment reductions, which exceed 50 percent in the past three years.

But Blue is not so sure that a similar suit won’t be brought in North Carolina, in spite of the settlement agreement.

“This is a cloud that’s going to hang over us for years to come,” Blue said. “I’m afraid it may give the companies a little more reason to buy more tobacco overseas.”

Blue said farmers have done everything they could to comply with company requirements to improve the quality of the leaf and marketing conditions.

“Tobacco has been a whipping boy, a scapegoat. Farmers are upset. They’re depressed,” Blue said.

The veteran Eureka farmer said he fears that this verdict will be just the excuse the companies need to back off from buying more tobacco this season.

‘Trickle-Down’ Effect

If the companies do cut back on American-grown tobacco, farmers may find more and more of their leaf going into the Flue-cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corporation at a price no higher than the support level set by the government. The corporation buys tobacco that doesn’t attract a price at the support level, processes and stores it for sale later when company inventories become low.

But if companies buy more tobacco overseas, their inventories may not become low enough for them to buy from Stabilization. With high inventories on hand, the U.S. Department of Agriculture may have little choice but to cut allotments again next year.

Matthews, who farms with his brothers off the Carthage-Niagara and Carthage-Vass roads, cites his family enterprise as an example of the declining allotments. Last year they planted 90 acres of flue-cured tobacco; this year they are planting 60 acres.

“Sooner or later it will get down to the grower,” Matthews said of the expected trickle-down effect of the jury verdict.

Blue is a man with a keen eye on the history of farming in Moore County. His farm, known as the River Daniel Blue Farm, has been in his family since 1804, and he wants it to remain a vital part of Moore County for future generations.

His son, John Sam, represents the sixth generation of his family to be a farmer, and his grandson, John Samuel III, recently arrived in the world to become the seventh generation.

Blue hopes the farm can stick around long enough for his grandson to farm the land of his ancestors.

The Blues raise other things along with tobacco — soybeans, corn, cattle and hay. John Sam Blue, who runs the farm now, recently added a crop of pumpkins for this fall.

Most tobacco farmers raise other crops, but few have found any that are as lucrative as tobacco. In some cases other crops simply don’t work on their land, or these alternative crops represent little more than additional income, but not enough to survive on alone.

Cooperatives needed?

The elder Blue believes that tobacco farmers may need to form cooperatives to protect themselves from capricious market trends.

While it is possible that no money will ever be paid out from the Florida case, the verdict leaves tobacco growers uneasy about their economic future.

The stock market scarcely rippled after the huge verdict was announced Friday, but most of the major companies have diversified their holdings and stockholders may not suffer — at least not yet.

But there are other considerations troubling growers.

If the companies are forced into bankruptcy by this verdict, which is widely predicted if the verdict is enforced, many growers are raising questions about the future of the settlement agreement reached with 46 other states. If the companies don’t have the money to pay out, the states won’t be able to collect.

Atop all of these woes is the reality of class-action suits pending in other states. A suit filed in Louisiana is scheduled for trial in January. Suits are also pending in Arizona and Illinois.

In addition, suits are being filed on behalf of individuals in foreign countries: Argentina, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Turkey.

Several countries have also filed suit for reimbursement for health care expenses. A suit filed by Guatemala was dismissed, but cases are pending from Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Panama, Ukraine and the Canadian province of Ontario.

Another wrinkle lies in the anti-trust suit that about 4,000 tobacco farmers have brought against cigarette manufacturers. These farmers are accusing the companies of conspiracy to reduce purchases from American farmers as a means of undermining the federal quota system.

Another 2,000 plaintiffs have been added since this suit was first filed in February.