Judge Drops Plan for Special Master

Facing resistance from tobacco companies, a federal judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., for now has dropped a plan to appoint a special master to try to forge a settlement of major tobacco lawsuits in his court and nationwide. Tobacco lawyers had told U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein that legal obstacles to such a global settlement were too great to overcome, and that the effort would trigger an avalanche of opportunistic new suits against cigarette makers. Weinstein agreed to hold off after meeting with attorneys for cigarette makers and for plaintiffs in six big suits pending before him.