TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A judge has ordered a new trial in the case of a former smoker who sued a tobacco company on behalf of his late wife, throwing out a verdict that had awarded him $200,000 in damages.

Hillsborough County Circuit Court Judge Ralph Steinberg ruled Thursday that Bob Jones' lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the nation's second-largest cigarette maker, was unfair because it presented unrelated testimony to the jury. Steinberg said testimony by health and advertising experts about the addictive nature of cigarettes did not focus on the central issue of the case. A new trial date has not been set. Troy Fuhrman, an R.J. Reynolds attorney, praised Steinberg's decision. Howard Acosta, Jones' lawyer, was unavailable for comment. Jones, who suffers from emphysema, sued R.J. Reynolds in 1997. His wife Suzanne died in 1995 after smoking a pack a day for more than four decades. Lawyers for the Winston-Salem, N.C., company said Jones chose to smoke despite more than 30 years of government warnings about smoking.

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