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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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Big Tobacco Loses Bid to Dimiss $289 Billion Lawsuit [01/26-3]
Excerpts from: Tobacco Industry Loses Round in Lawsuit
By
CURT ANDERSON Newsday [01/23/04]
The tobacco industry lost a round Friday in its bid to win dismissal of a Justice Department lawsuit seeking $289 billion for an alleged conspiracy to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler sided with the Justice Department in a ruling that prevents tobacco companies from using a number of defense arguments to undermine the case.
The thrust of those claims are that the government itself knew about smoking dangers for years and did little or nothing, and in some cases actively encouraged conduct that is key to the lawsuit.
For example, the companies said in court papers that the government encouraged development of low-tar cigarettes and is now using that work as evidence of the alleged tobacco industry conspiracy. The companies argued that government scientists also once openly questioned whether smoking causes disease.
In addition, the companies claimed that the government had waived its right to bring the lawsuit because of its "silence and delay" over the years and that the lawsuit is invalid because many witnesses are now dead and documents unavailable.
Kessler, in a 27-page opinion, ruled that the law "overwhelmingly supports" the government's contention that none of these defenses should apply in the tobacco case. The case will now go forward without them in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The lawsuit was filed by the Clinton administration in 1999 and was inherited by the Bush administration's Justice Department. It is currently scheduled for trial in September 2004.
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