Manitoba and Nova Scotia will join New Brunswick and other provinces actively pursuing legal action against the tobacco industry to recover health-care costs.
The Manitoba government said it intends to reach a satisfactory arrangement with a consortium of law firms hired by the New Brunswick government to handle this province’s litigation.
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The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of a $270 million verdict in Louisiana against Philip Morris and other big cigarette companies, dashing their hopes that the court’s animosity toward big class actions displayed in Wal-Mart vs. Dukes may extend to tobacco lawsuits.
Justice Antonion Scalia exercised the rarely-used prerogative of a SCOTUS judge last September to stay enforcement of the verdict, saying at the time “I think it reasonably probable that four Justices will vote to grant certiorari, and significantly possible that the judgment below will be reversed.” He was wrong.
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State attorneys general are considering a proposal to end a fight with tobacco companies over $7.1 billion in payments due under a 1998 settlement. The accord with 46 states required the companies to pay $206 billion to resolve any liability in healthcare-cost lawsuits.
The fight over $7.1 billion in payments under the 13-year- old accord stemmed in part from tobacco company claims that erosion of market share has limited their liability. Ream more »
A number of new measures, including a Scottish Tobacco Retailer Register and a ban on the display of tobacco in shops, are being introduced following the passage of the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010.
A ban on sales of tobacco products from vending machines was to be implemented from October 1. However, due to the ongoing legal challenges, the Scottish Government has reluctantly come to the conclusion that it is no longer possible to introduce the ban on that day.
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NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Altria Group Inc.’s (MO) Philip Morris USA said Friday a St. Louis state-court jury has returned a verdict for a number of tobacco companies, agreeing that 37 Missouri hospitals couldn’t recover costs for treating sick smokers.
Lorillard Inc. (LO), Reynolds American Inc.’s (RAI) R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and others were also named in the suit. Tobacco companies face frequent legal challenges, though this was just the third such health-care cost recovery case to go to trial. Ream more »
The Bulgarian privatization agency said Tuesday that it is putting up for sale the country’s remaining stake in cigarette manufacturer Bulgartabak Holding.
The government holds 79.83 per cent of Bulgartabak, with the rest already privatized. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s cabinet declared the sale of the majority stake one of its priorities for 2011. Ream more »
State governments struggling to close yawning budget gaps are fighting to get billions of dollars from a landmark 1998 tobacco settlement that they counted on to help fund everything from Medicaid to elder care programs.
Since 2006, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Lorillard Inc., and about 40 other cigarette makers that signed the settlement have withheld about $3.2 billion from the states. Ream more »
In the black and white television days of the 1950s and early 1960s, “virtually everyone” was exposed to information linking cigarettes to lung cancer, a historian testified for tobacco company R.J. Reynolds on Wednesday in court.
The cigarette maker defended a claim from a Daytona Beach grandmother, who is seeking damages for the lung cancer she suffered.
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About 200 workers gathered Tuesday in Tallahassee for a rally and march to the Capitol in support of a bill they say would close a tax loophole on Dosal Tobacco.
As part of an $11.3 billion settlement in 1997 between the state and large tobacco companies, fees are tacked onto cigarettes from most tobacco producers and passed on to the consumer. Dosal Tobacco, a Miami-based company, was not part of the settlement and, without having to charge the tax, can sell their 305s brand cheaper than other companies. Ream more »
British American Tobacco (BAT) PLC announced their plans to create a new company called Nicoventures Ltd. which will produce products made without tobacco and with only pure nicotine in an effort to offer a safer alternative to smokers. Even though a spokeswoman of the organization said the products the company is considering aren’t on the market yet and declined to give any more details, Ream more »