Appeals Court Upholds Landmark Case Against Tobacco Industry
By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 22, 2009
A federal appeals court today largely upheld a judge's findings that the tobacco industry violated civil racketeering laws by lying to the public about the dangers of their product.
In a 93-page opinion, the three-judge panel backed the findings of U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler who determined in 2006 that the companies "have marketed and sold their lethal product with zeal, with deception, with a single-minded focus on their financial success, and without regard for the human tragedy or social costs that success exacted."
Chief Judge David B. Sentelle and judges David S. Tatel and Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed "the district court's judgment in its entirety" except for the actions of two trade groups. It told Kessler to dismiss them from the lawsuit. The court also told Kessler to reconsider several remedies she imposed on the companies.
The Clinton Justice Department brought the unprecedented civil suit against the country's five largest tobacco companies in 1999. The government had sought billions of dollars from the companies. But Kessler ruled that an earlier appeals court opinion precluded her from imposing such penalties.
(More here.)
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 22, 2009
A federal appeals court today largely upheld a judge's findings that the tobacco industry violated civil racketeering laws by lying to the public about the dangers of their product.
In a 93-page opinion, the three-judge panel backed the findings of U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler who determined in 2006 that the companies "have marketed and sold their lethal product with zeal, with deception, with a single-minded focus on their financial success, and without regard for the human tragedy or social costs that success exacted."
Chief Judge David B. Sentelle and judges David S. Tatel and Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed "the district court's judgment in its entirety" except for the actions of two trade groups. It told Kessler to dismiss them from the lawsuit. The court also told Kessler to reconsider several remedies she imposed on the companies.
The Clinton Justice Department brought the unprecedented civil suit against the country's five largest tobacco companies in 1999. The government had sought billions of dollars from the companies. But Kessler ruled that an earlier appeals court opinion precluded her from imposing such penalties.
(More here.)
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