Word: liggett
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...would have predicted such a swift outcome back in March, when this all began with the obvious but startling admission by one of the smallest tobacco companies, Liggett Group, that cigarettes are addictive and have been pointedly marketed at kids for years. The confession signaled the first real break from the industry's see-no-evil posture. Reportedly, the event prompted North Carolina Governor James Hunt to call his friend Bill Clinton. The White House then got in touch with Mississippi's Moore to ask if talks with the industry might prove productive...
...Liggett Group, smallest of the U.S.'s Big Five cigarette makers, broke ranks in March and conceded not only that tobacco is addictive but also that the company has known it all along. While RJR Nabisco and the others continue to battle in the courts--insisting that smokers are not hooked, just exercising free choice--their denials ring increasingly hollow in the face of the growing weight of evidence. Over the past year, several scientific groups have made the case that in dopamine-rich areas of the brain, nicotine behaves remarkably like cocaine. And late last week a federal judge...
...landmark talks began shortly after the tiny Liggett Group struck a separate deal with 22 state attorneys general last month, breaking ranks and opening the way for the tobacco industry to put the legal onslaught--and $600 million in annual legal fees--behind it. "These cases were a gun to their heads," says John Coale, lead counsel for a coalition representing 60 law firms suing tobacco companies, who has been participating in the talks. "Now the industry has to prove its good faith...
Will smokers take Liggett's mea culpas to heart and light up less often? After declining for years, smoking has leveled off, and teens seem to be increasing their intake. Older smokers may pay more heed than younger ones to warnings about addiction on Liggett cigarette labels. That's because the young are more apt to look upon smoking as cool and the consequences a distant threat. And they may cling to that view even when a major manufacturer admits that with regard to the truth about cigarettes and health, it has been blowing smoke for years...
LeBow, 59, makes an unlikely populist hero. He's an '80s-style corporate buccaneer who plundered Western Union, rattled American Brands and took runs at Prime Computer and RJR Nabisco. As head of the Liggett tobacco company, he has contributed to one of America's unhealthiest habits, but last week, ironically, he became the bearer of gifts to those plotting the demise of the cigarette industry. In settling a raft of lawsuits, LeBow agreed to turn over documents that presumably tell what the tobacco execs knew and when they knew...