[SheLion]

Keep in mind:  The MSA is being paid solely by the taxes smoker's pay on cigarettes. NOT Big Tobacco and NOT the government.  But the SMOKERS!

[SheLion]

[ClintonBeGone]

I've always been puzzled why a new tobacco company that enters the market has to pay for the sins of the past. Perhaps this is why Phillip Morris tried so hard to shut down Yessmoke.

[Neoliberalnot]

I am reminded of the similarly unhealthy lifestyle of homosexuality. The parallels are striking, but how long will it be until the public figures out that the male homosexuals average lifespan is actually shorter than a smokers. Go figure.

[Gabz]

Now this cozy arrangement may come unstuck. A New York State court decision in early 2004 allowed a plaintiff to pursue an antitrust lawsuit against the settlement (see FORBES GLOBAL, Feb. 28). The original settlement inadvertently contained a loophole; it allowed cigarette discounters to get refunds of the special fee per pack of cigarettes that goes toward financing the settlement from states in which they don't sell their wares. States have been passing laws to close this loophole, but in October a federal court said no can do. After all, why should a company that didn't even exist at the time of the settlement be forced to pony up money for bad behavior in which it had played no part?

No wonder the cozy deal PM made with the Governor of Virginia last year went no where this year. PM agreed to not oppose the massive cigarette tax increase here last year, and the Gov was pushing legislation to close the "loophole."

[MileHi]

The thing that I don't get about the suits is that the states profit nearly as much as the tobacco companies. Shouldn't they have sued themselves?

[SheLion]