December 2, 1982

All Steven Miner wanted from the Gillette Company was what the 1978 advertisement offered - a free Accent table cigarette lighter, retail value $7.95. As required, Mr. Miner sent off 50 cents for postage and handling and proof of purchase of two of Gillette's Cricket disposable cigarette lighters. Instead of the lighter, though, Mr. Miner ended up with a Supreme Court case testing the use of nationwide consumer class-action lawsuits in state courts. As a practical matter, a ruling against Mr. Miner would go a long way toward preventing the multimillion-dollar damage awards in consumer actions. Such awards in other areas - one recent antitrust class action involved damages of more than $1 billion - have made class actions anathema to many corporations.

President Reagan said the U.S. will allow Brazil $1.2 billion in short-term loans to help it meet its debt crisis. On the first day of his Latin American trip, the President urged lenders around the world to aid indebted developing nations and he praised Brazil's austerity measures. In New York, Brazilian bank officials were seeking a $2.4 billion loan from commercial banks. (Page A1.) Mexico's new President announced sweeping austerity measures to deal with the country's economic problems, which were described as intolerable by President Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado in his inaugural address. His plan includes budget cuts, new taxes, price increases and an easing of foreign exchange controls. (A1.)

An underwriting syndicate headed by Morgan Stanley & Company yesterday sold 16.5 million shares of common stock in the American Telephone and Telegraph Company for $990 million. The entire equity offering - one of the largest in history - was snapped up by investors at the $60-a-share offering price, Morgan Stanley said. The huge offering of new shares prompted heavy trading of existing A.T.& T. stock on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. About 1.7 million shares changed hands, and the stock closed at $60, unchanged from Tuesday's close.

New York City's Health Department announced yesterday that it had issued a permit allowing a Connecticut company to sell ''horseburgers'' and horse-steak sandwiches from pushcarts in midtown Manhattan. The company, Chevalean Foods, had its first cart on Lexington Avenue, near 53d Street, soon after the announcement and did what its president and vendor, Ronald Corn, called a ''fairly good'' business ''despite rainy weather.'' He said he had sold about 50 quarter-pound burgers and steak sandwiches, with the burgers going for 75 cents plain - 85 cents with cheese - and the steak sandwiches for $1.40. The company is based in Hartford, where Mr. Corn and Morris Later operate the M & R Packing Company. Mr. Later, the vice president, said they had been slaughtering horses for export to Europe and the Middle East for 10 years and selling sandwiches from carts in Boston, Hartford and New Haven for several months, and that, yes, they had heard lots of jokes.

With Senator Edward M. Kennedy out of the 1984 Presidential race, the chances of all other Democratic hopefuls obviously improved yesterday. But the clearest gains were not for any individual Democrats, but for organized labor. Cases were already being made for most of the active contenders for the party nomination as to how Mr. Kennedy's withdrawal had helped their particular prospects. In a larger sense, it helped them all, because the Massachusetts Democrat could have carried into the race a bigger core of support than any other contender.