The Justice Department — this under the supposedly free-market, tort-reforming administration of George W. Bush — has delivered itself of the following remarkable pronouncement: “”the United States would be justified in seeking disgorgement of the proceeds from all [cigarette] sales to people of all ages from 1954 into the future.” As it is, it’s demanding a mere $280 billion in its baldly retroactive suit, this after Judge Gladys Kessler’s dismissal of the department’s Medicaid-recoupment claims. (Jacob Sullum, “Smoking in the Dark”, syndicated/Reason, Sept. 17; see Ron Scherer, “In the largest suit yet, US sues the tobacco industry”, Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 20). For more on the suit’s threat to First Amendment values, see Sept. 23, Oct. 13 and Oct. 25, 1999; for its status as an attempted end run around democracy, see Jan. 15-16, 2000; for other reactions at the time of its filing, see Sept. 29 and Oct. 26, 1999; plus our other posts, and most recently Jul. 16, 2004. More: Legal Times, Sept. 21.
Federal tobacco trial to begin
The Justice Department — this under the supposedly free-market, tort-reforming administration of George W. Bush — has delivered itself of the following remarkable pronouncement: “”the United States would be justified in seeking disgorgement of the proceeds from all [cigarette] sales to people of all ages from 1954 into the future.” As it is, it’s demanding […]
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Boeken: Campbell equals win for MO
Yesterday, Philip Morris won its appeal before the Los Angeles 2nd District Court of Appeal, Division 4, which held that the company’s punitive damages in the case of Richard Boeken could not exceed $50 million. The court based its ruling…