21 avril, 2005 14:30
Court Turns Back DOJ's $280 Billion Request in Tobacco Case
Hilary Roxe
The Associated Press
04-21-2005
An appeals court won't reconsider its decision barring the Justice Department from seeking $280 billion in a lawsuit against cigarette companies.
In a vote Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit divided 3-3 on whether to reconsider the case, according to a Justice Department spokesman.
Officials said the government has not decided whether to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
"In the wake of the tied vote ... the United States will carefully review its options and make a determination in the near future as to what course of action it will pursue," said Associate Attorney General Robert D. McCallum Jr.
In the case, filed in 1999 under a federal racketeering statute, the government is alleging cigarette makers conspired for decades to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking. A trial began in U.S. District Court in September and is ongoing.
The Justice Department last month asked the full court to reconsider a panel's 2-1 decision that the government could not seek the huge penalty. The panel decided the government was limited to "forward looking" remedies and that "disgorgement," or the seeking of money earned through fraudulent means, was not one.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler could still impose restrictions on the tobacco companies, such as limiting marketing or requiring the industry to fund public health campaigns or smoking-cessation programs.
But Jonathan Turley, a law professor at American University, said the decision puts the government in a tough situation.
"It lost the majority of its expected damages out of this case," he said. "On the other hand, it can't simply pick up its marbles and go home."
Filed by the Clinton administration in 1999, the suit took five years to reach trial. The government has spent more than $135 million on the case.
The appeals court decision could also weaken the government's hand in any potential settlement talks with cigarette makers, Turley said.
"Disgorgement was the 800-pound gorilla in the closet. I think that 800-pound gorilla is now a midsize chimpanzee," he said.
The defendants in the lawsuit are: Philip Morris USA Inc. and its parent, Altria Group Inc.; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co.; British American Tobacco Ltd.; Lorillard Tobacco Co.; Liggett Group Inc.; Counsel for Tobacco Research-U.S.A.; and the Tobacco Institute.
