A Broward judge Thursday declared a mistrial in the case of a Cooper City widow suing Philip Morris after a witness for the woman used an inflammatory racial term.

Robert Proctor, a Stanford University professor, used the ''N word'' during a response to a question from a Philip Morris lawyer about the educator's research into the tobacco industry. Proctor is working on a project about racism in the industry.

'It wasn't so much the `N word' but the linking of the tobacco company with racism,'' said Alex Alvarez, a lawyer for Elaine Hess, who claims her husband's death from lung cancer in 1997 was caused by his addiction to nicotine in cigarettes.

''He's writing a book on racism in the tobacco industry,'' said Gary Paige, who also represents Hess. ``In order to do that search, you have to use racial terms [to search the industry's] archives. ''

Philip Morris lawyer Kenneth Reilly objected and asked for a mistrial. Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld thought the term was ''prejudicial,'' Paige added. The jury included two African-American women and an African-American man served as an alternate.

''We believe the judge did what the law required under the circumstances,'' said Jack Marshall, a Philip Morris spokesman.

Streitfeld, through his judicial assistant, declined to speak with a reporter. No new trial date has been set.

The Hess case was the first to be heard of about 8,000 cases filed in Florida against the tobacco companies.

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