Judge dismisses lawsuit against tobacco companies
Wednesday, August 30th, 2006
By Chris Fitzsimon
The Associated Press
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a group trying to force tobacco companies, including three based in North Carolina, to pay at least $60 billion spent by Medicare on smoking-related illnesses.
United Seniors Association Inc., a Virginia-based lobbying group for senior citizens, sued the companies last year, claiming they intentionally hid cigarettes’ addictive properties and should be held liable for Medicare’s expenditures since August 1999 to treat illnesses attributable to smoking.
The lawsuit named as defendants Richmond, Va.-based Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., based in Winston-Salem, N.C., Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., both individually and as the successors to the American Tobacco Co., Lorillard Tobacco Co., based in Greensboro, N.C., and Liggett Group Inc., based in Mebane, N.C.
In a hearing in June, the companies asked U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to dismiss the lawsuit, saying they had not been found liable for the medical bills and United Seniors had no standing to bring the lawsuit. (more…)
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