B&W Statement

British American Tobacco PLC
17 July 2000


The following announcement has been released by British American Tobacco's
US subsidiary, Brown & Williamson:
   

                         B&W SHOCKED AND OUTRAGED
                       OVER PUNITIVE DAMAGE VERDICT

     LOUISVILLE, KY - Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation said that it
was shocked and outraged by today's jury verdict on the punitive damage
phase of the Engle class action case in Miami and that it would seek an
immediate appeal of the overall trial that has lasted more than two years.

     'We simply can't believe the jury would totally ignore the extensive
efforts Brown & Williamson has made in the last several years to reduce
youth smoking, to work on producing safer cigarettes and to be open and
accessible to the public,' said Gordon Smith, lead attorney representing
the company.   'In more than two years, we've been subject to a kangaroo
court setting where fairness, justice and plain old common sense have been
thrown out in favor of emotion and prejudice.'

     While the jury assessed $17.59 billion in damages against Brown &
Williamson and $127.26 billion in total against the rest of the major
companies in the industry, B&W noted that it will not be required to pay
the award immediately, and believes it will never have to.  Florida law
caps the amount that companies must pay at $100 million while the appeals
process is underway.

     The amount of the jury's verdict bears no relation to reality.  The
combined net worth of all the defendants is just over $15 billion.  The
jury completely ignored the instructions that told them they could not
financially destroy the companies.  Obviously, no industry in this country
can pay almost 10 times their net worth.  The appellate courts are bound
to correct this incredible miscarriage of justice.

     'As the case now moves to the appellate courts, B&W is 100 percent
confident that the higher courts will reverse the Engle decisions given
the numerous errors committed during the trial and the significant
constitutional issues involved in this case,' he said.

     Smith said the points for appeal are numerous, and provided a few
highlights:

 *   Certification of the class was inappropriate.  The great majority of
     courts have determined that certification of tobacco cases is
     inappropriate because the claims turn on individual issues.
  
 *   The trial judge is a member of the plaintiffs' class and consistently
     made rulings favorable to the plaintiffs.  The judge had excluded
     hundreds of prospective jurors from serving on this case because they
     were potential class members - smokers, former smokers and others.
     Late in the trial, it was learned that the judge was a former smoker
     with the type of heart disease that plaintiffs claimed is smoking
     related.  The trial judge rejected a request by the defendants to
     step down.
     
 *   The trial judge allowed plaintiffs' attorney to inject race into the
     trial by discussing, improperly, the O.J. Simpson trial, Rosa Parks
     and  Martin Luther King, a tactic the attorney has advocated for all
     jury trials in a book he has written.  At the same time, the judge
     excluded two African American witnesses B&W called to set the record
     straight.

 *   The trial judge allowed the jury to establish punitive damages for an
     unknown class before the individual members of the class even
     presented their claims for compensatory damages.
     
 *   The Court allowed plaintiffs to argue that cigarettes should not be
     legal products, despite federal and state laws that declare the
     advertising and sale of cigarettes to be legal.

     Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation is the nation's third largest
manufacturer and marketer of tobacco products.  The company's major brands
include KOOL, Lucky Strike, GPC, Misty, Capri, Viceroy and Pall Mall.
     
     For more information about B&W, the Engle trial and other issues,
visit www.brownandwilliamson.com.
                                     
 
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