Word: tobacco
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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WASHINGTON, D.C.: Where you stood on the news that Liggett Group decided to settle lawsuits with 22 states by agreeing to admit that cigarette smoking is addictive depended very much on where in the morass of tobacco litigation you currently sat. States Attorneys General pointed to the fact that the North Carolina-based maker of Chesterfield, Lark and L&M cigarettes agreed to up-front payments of about $25 million, plus 2.5 percent of its pretax profits over the next 25 years, as evidence that tobacco companies are in some way responsible for the health-care costs states are suing...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: A recent string of good news for the tobacco industry ended when the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a Florida law making it easier for the state to sue tobacco companies to recover Medicaid money spent on smoking-related illnesses. The decision allows Florida to proceed with a lawsuit to recoup the some $800 million the state estimates it has spent treating sick smokers since July 1994. At issue was a measure which prevents companies from arguing Medicaid patients are partially to blame for their illnesses, allows the state to bring a class action suit...
...tobacco executives have the upper hand. Odds are they could go on winning in court for years. But they are just plain wrong to ignore the wisdom of the market. For starters, the $10 billion-a-year figure is a red herring. David Adelman, tobacco analyst at Dean Witter Discover, believes the industry could get the figure down to $3 billion or less. But even at the higher figure, "it's not a lot of money" under certain scenarios, notes Roy Burry, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. No industry has greater pricing flexibility, and every nickel-a-pack increase generates...
...others have signaled interest in a resolution. Last week Britain's B.A.T Industries bemoaned a 65% increase in its annual legal tab. Big Tobacco pays $600 million a year defending itself. The problem is that as long as the companies keep winning in court, the amount that strikes them as reasonable is not much more than their legal bills. And that's too bad, because now is when they could cut their best deal. The markets, President Clinton and plaintiffs' lawyers all seem eager. It's time to quit blowing smoke and bring this battle to a close...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: A recent string of good news for the tobacco industry ended when the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a Florida law making it easier for the state to sue tobacco companies to recover Medicaid money spent on smoking-related illnesses. The decision allows Florida to proceed with a lawsuit to recoup the some $800 million the state estimates it has spent treating sick smokers since July 1994. At issue was a measure which prevents companies from arguing Medicaid patients are partially to blame for their illnesses, allows the state to bring a class action suit...