U.S. v. Philip Morris ‒ Court of Appeals to hear arguments today
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit scheduled arguments today to hear from both the industry and the government. The two parties are challenging different aspects of a judge's 2006 ruling that the tobacco industry violated RICO by deceiving the public for decades about smoking risks.
In August 2006, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that the nation's top cigarette makers violated racketeering laws, misleading the public for years about the health hazards of smoking. But she said she lacked authority to order them to pay the billions of dollars the government had sought. The ruling, however, barred cigarette companies from using terms such as "low tar" or "light" in their marketing, but did not impose financial penalties.
Judge Kessler also ordered the companies to publish in newspapers and on their Web sites "corrective statements" on the adverse health effects and addictiveness of smoking and nicotine.
In her 1,653 page ruling, the judge said, "Over the course of more than 50 years, defendants lied, misrepresented and deceived the American public, including smokers and the young people they avidly sought as 'replacement smokers,' about the devastating health effects of smoking and environmental tobacco smoke (secondhand smoke)."
