US seeks new $280bn smoker ruling

The US Justice Department is to try to overturn a court ruling that threw out its claim for $280bn (£149bn) in damages from tobacco firms.

Earlier this month, a three-judge appeal court panel rejected the claim - filed in 1999 by the administration of Bill Clinton - in a 2-1 decision. Government lawyers said they would ask the full US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to hear the case. The court room battle is seen as key in government attempts to fight smoking. "It's pretty clear that they've suffered a severe setback," said Anthony Sebok, a professor at Brooklyn Law School, adding that the appeal was what the government "would be expected to ask for".

Prosecutors had argued that tobacco firms lied about the dangers of smoking, ignored research that highlighted problems, looked to increase addiction by manipulating nicotine levels and targeted the young with their adverts. Among the firms accused were Altria Group, RJ Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard Tobacco, Liggett Group and Brown and Williamson. Prosecutors went after the companies using legislation put in place to fight organised crime, and accused the firms of conspiring and running "Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations". The tobacco companies denied the charges, saying that they never illegally conspired to promote smoking and fool the public. They also said that they have met many of the government's demands laid out in a landmark $206bn settlement hammered out in 1998 with 46 states. A three-judge panel agreed with the companies, finding that the case could not be brought under federal anti-racketeering laws.

Central to the government's case was a meeting in the Plaza Hotel, New York, on 15 December, 1953. Prosecutors contend that executives from the major tobacco firms met and agreed to present a unified strategy denying the harmful effects of smoking. Despite denying for decades that smoking could be linked to illness, the companies have modified their stances in recent years. Altria's Philip Morris now accepts that nicotine is harmful, and the company's main lawyer William Ohlemeyer told the BBC last year that earlier statements may have been wrong but they were not dishonest. Government lawyers have until 21 March to file their appeal.
