Jacksonville attorney Norwood "Woody" Wilner has lost two other anti-tobacco, product-liability cases since his $750,000 verdict against Brown & Williamson in 1996 but now says papers released in Minnesota's anti-tobacco lawsuit settled last week bolster his claims.

"We didn't have enough (evidence) to present with the strength that we can now," Wilner said. "I think the public is long overdue in getting access to these things."

Wilner's latest lawsuit is on behalf of Angela Widdick, who is suing Brown & Williamson and Liggett Group Inc. for the death of her father. A Duval County Court judge on Friday ruled that a jury may consider Wilner's claim that the two companies are liable for conspiracy.

Widdick's late father, Roland Maddox, smoked Lucky Strike cigarettes, made by a companywhich later merged with Brown & Williamson, and Liggett's Chesterfield cigarettes. Maddox, a two-pack-a-day smoker, died of lung cancer last year.

The lawsuit asks for unspecified punitive damages but unlike his other lawsuits the Maddox case includes allegations the cigarette makers conspired to hide the dangers of smoking.

The Minnesota documents, Wilner said, were "going to help us tell the truth - that Brown & Williamson, joining with the rest of the cigarette-makers from the early 1950s until today, carried out a carefully calculated strategy to deny their product was harmful."

Video-taped testimony from Maddox, as well as documents made public during the Minnesota lawsuit and possibly testimony by Bennett LeBow, chairman of Brooke Group Ltd., owner of Liggett, will be presented during the trial, Wilner said.

"I think (LeBow) wants to testify," Wilner said. "His lawyers have said it's physically possible he will appear."

A spokesman for Liggett declined to comment. Last month, Liggett & MyersInc. -- whose parent company is Liggett Group, Inc. -- agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Justice Department's criminal investigation of the tobacco industry.

A spokesman for defendant Brown & Williamson declined to comment directly on the case but said juries in the past have found that individuals were responsible for their actions.

"Juries are juries and they take a look at the evidence," said Joe Helewicz, vice president of public affairs with Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. "Common sense will again prevail. I think that's what happened in all the previous trials, except one exception."

That exception was a jury's 1996 verdict in Wilner's lawsuit on behalf of Grady Carter, who testified he was addicted to nicotine and fought a losing battle to quit.

Maddox tried many Times to quit but was never successful, said Widdick.In a videotape Maddox appeared in before he died, the Baltimore native talks about starting his smoking habit at age 16 and how difficult it was to quit."He just had the hardesttime no matter how many times he tried," Widdick said. "He'D Just go for a day and then just fall right back into the habit. It was just very, very hard for him."

Maddox decided to pursue a lawsuit against the tobacco companies after seeing a television news report about Wilner's lawsuits, Widdick said.He said,"They lied to me, they lied to me about the cigarettes,'" Widdick said. "He felt he was done wrong."

Wilner's $750,000 judgment remains under appeal. Appeal judges heard oral arguments in January but haven'T rendered a decision.

Oral arguments were set for June 9 in the appeal of the $1.78 million attorney fees awarded to Wilner and associates in the case.