Legal

State

Regulating tobacco marketing: A “commercial speech” factsheet for state and local governments
The Tobacco Control Legal Consortium has prepared three new tools relating to state and local governments’ expanded authority to regulate tobacco advertising and promotion after passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The new materials include a brief fact sheet, a flowchart, and a longer list of guidelines on how to draft laws to regulate the advertising and promotion of tobacco products while keeping the policies within the limits of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act and the U.S. Constitution. These materials outline key considerations for state and local policymakers, provide basic information about the legal boundaries protecting commercial free speech, and give policy drafting tips. Click here to access the new materials.

Attorney General announces $150,000 settlement with R.J. Reynolds regarding cartoon cigarette ads (CT)
Cigarette maker R.J. Reynolds has agreed to pay the State of Connecticut $150,000 to settle a lawsuit in which the state attorney general claimed that a 2007 Camel advertisement violated the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) by using cartoons, which attract children and teenagers to smoking.The company’s “The Farm” campaign included a four-page poster in the 40th anniversary edition of Rolling Stone. Reynolds denies using the campaign to advertise to children, and will pay the settlement to compensate the state for the legal costs incurred during the lawsuit. Click here to read more.

Two more Florida juries favor plaintiffs in “Engle progeny” cases (FL)
In two recent “Engle progeny” cases stemming from a class-action lawsuit thrown out by the Florida Supreme Court in 2006, juries have ordered tobacco companies to pay large sums in damages to the families of deceased smokers. In the first case, a jury decided that R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris must pay $26.6 million to the family of Nathan Cohen, a smoker who died of lung cancer. Ten million dollars in compensatory damages were awarded, two-thirds of which will be paid by the tobacco companies, as one-third of the fault for Cohen’s death was attributed to Cohen himself. An additional $20 million in punitive damages were awarded. Click here to read more about the case, Robin Cohen v. R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris. In another recent case, R.J. Reynolds was ordered to pay $46.3 million to a Florida widow whose husband died of lung cancer in 1995 after smoking since he was 13 years old.  Only fifteen jury verdicts have been reached among the thousands of Engle progeny cases that are pending, and in thirteen of those cases, juries have ruled against the tobacco companies. Click here to read about Townsend v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

State ban on smoking in public places upheld (IA)
An Iowa district court judge has determined that the state’s Smokefree Air Act is constitutional. Attorneys for an Iowa bar claimed that the law, which bans smoking in most public places, violated interstate commerce, equal protection, due process, and civil rights laws. The bar had its liquor license revoked in response to several smoking complaints filed against the establishment after the law went into effect in July 2008. This court decision affirms the constitutionality of the law itself, and upholds its enforcement by the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division. A recent poll indicates that 71% of Iowa residents approve of the public smoking ban. Read more here.

Judge upholds ban on flavored-tobacco sales (NY)
A Manhattan federal judge has refused to block a law set to go into effect this month in New York City that would prohibit the sale of flavored cigars and smokeless tobacco. The judge upheld the law, saying that Congress made it clear that federal sales regulations were a minimum level that could be made more stringent by local legislation. A spokesman for Altria has said that the tobacco company will continue fighting the law in court on the grounds that the city does not have the authority to impose product standards that are different from those set by federal law. Read more here.

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National

Legal Update – April 2010
The latest issue of the Legal Update, the newsletter of the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium, is now available. This issue includes exciting news about an upcoming national public health law network, as well as highlights of recent tobacco lawsuits and an "Ask the Lawyers" piece on lobbying by nonprofit organizations. The Legal Consortium's most recent publication, Applying Tobacco Control Lessons to Obesity: Taxes and Other Pricing Strategies to Reduce Consumption is featured. This law synopsis summarizes lessons learned about tobacco taxation as a legal public health intervention, and describes the potential impact of increased taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages. Click here to access the newsletter.

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International

Tobacco-makers see $550M go poof in deal with governments over contraband smokes (Canada)
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., its subsidiary Northern Brands International Inc., and Canadian manufacturer JTI-Macdonald Corp. will be paying the Canadian federal, provincial, and territorial governments a total of $550 million in settlements and fines due to the manufacturers’ involvement in cigarette smuggling operations in the 1990s. The companies were accused of shipping Canadian cigarettes to American subsidiaries, then selling them to smugglers to be brought back into Canada and sold at half the price of legal products. While the smuggling operations were underway, the companies successfully lobbied for lowering tobacco taxes due to losses they claimed were incurred from competition with contraband cigarettes. Anti-smoking advocates believe that the settlements are unfairly lenient towards the tobacco companies, and do not come close to recovering the tax money lost to smuggling. Click here to read more.

Indonesia takes U.S. to WTO over clove cigarette ban (Indonesia)
Indonesia is filing a formal dispute with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the recent U.S. ban on flavored cigarettes. Indonesia is a large producer of tobacco, particularly clove-flavored kretek cigarettes, and the nation’s cigarette and cigar exports totaled $357.8 million in 2008. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned flavored cigarettes last year, but exempted menthol flavorings, which Indonesia argues discriminates against foreign producers of flavored tobacco. WTO rules dictate that the two countries have sixty days to resolve the dispute through negotiations before Indonesia can ask a WTO panel of experts to rule on the issue. Click here to read more.

Tobacco groups seek to challenge UK display ban (UK)
Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and British American Tobacco are seeking judicial review of the UK government’s impending ban on tobacco product displays. The ban is part of the Health Act of 2009, and will eventually require cigarettes, cigars, loose tobacco, and other tobacco products to be hidden from sight in retail outlets. The companies claim that there is no evidence showing that displays of tobacco products encourage children to initiate smoking or tempt adults to continue smoking, and that such a ban would damage competition among small businesses. The ban will be implemented in large stores in England, Wales, and Ireland starting in October 2011 and in smaller shops in October 2013; Scotland is putting its own legislation through parliament. Click here to read more.

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