Posted by Sharon on 7/15/10

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“Supreme Court rejects appeals of tobacco ruling”

New York Times (06/28/2010) Duff Wilson

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/business/29tobacco.html?
scp=1&sq=supreme%20court%20tobacco%20&st=cse

The milestone racketeering verdict against cigarette
companies will not be reviewed by the United States Supreme
Court, according to a decision to deny a writ of certiorari
which was issued without comment June 28, 2010.

The decision appealed by both sides of the suit, tobacco
companies and the U.S. Department of Justice, was ordered
in 2006 by United States District Court for the District of
Columbia Judge Gladys Kessler. In appealing to the Supreme
Court, the last option available for the case, tobacco
companies sought to overturn a civil racketeering judgment
on free speech grounds. Conversely, the federal government
appealed to force tobacco companies to return up to $280
billion in profits from advertising campaigns which were
judged to be untruthful about the health risks associated
with smoking.

The decision comes as a relief to tobacco investors,
according to Thilo Wrede, an industry analyst for Credit
Suisse; “If the decision would have been the other way, you
would have seen a headline saying a $280 billion case is
open again.”

Antismoking advocates’ reactions to the denial are mixed,
says Edward L. Sweda, a senior lawyer with the Tobacco
Products Liability Project. “Obviously we’re disappointed,
because we would have liked to force the companies to
disgorge their ill-gotten gains… but we’re delighted with
the upholding of the judge’s basic finding that the major
tobacco companies are in fact adjudicated racketeers. Now
that is established historical fact.”

While portions of Judge Kessler’s 2006 ruling have been
subsequently imposed through federal legislation, the case
will now return to her court in order to discern remedies
other than disgorgement, such as possible corrective
advertising.

[Editor’s Note: The appealed decision is United States v.
Philip Morris USA, Inc., 449 F. Supp. 2d 1 (D.D.C. 2006)
and is available at https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-
bin/show_public_doc?1999cv2496-5732.]

http://katysexposure.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/truth-out-
sharon-kramer-letter-to-andrew-saxon-mold-issue/

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