Tobacco Settlement?
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 9:44 AM

Big Tobacco and the feds apparently are engaged in talks to settle the ongoing racketeering lawsuit. The federales (at least temporarily) lost a major lever when an appeals court ruled in early February that $280 billion in past profits was not ripe for "disgorgement". The feds are not without other weapons in their arsenal, however, and in the trial itself (as opposed to outside-of-court settlement talks) are pushing "for court-ordered supervision of tobacco companies, including a possibility of court action to remove executives," according to the linked New York Times article.

Apologies for the disappearance of late. I am still out of town, and won't be back on what passes for the normal Vice Squad schedule until Friday, it seems.

Labels: litigation, tobacco