Legal

State

N.C. to receive $108 million after arbitration panel approves tobacco settlement agreement (NC)
The agreement between three tobacco manufacturers and 17 states regarding payments from the Master Settlement Agreement in 1998 has been approved by a federal arbitration panel. This new agreement will require these tobacco companies to pay the money they were previously required to pay states to recover healthcare costs incurred from smoking-related illnesses. A provision in the original case specified that states would receive less money if they sold cigarettes from smaller, competing cigarette manufacturers that sell their products at lower costs. This suit concerns whether or not states have enforced this law, and manufacturers have withheld payments due to this provision. The 17 states involved in this dispute will now receive their originally agreed upon payments. Click here to read more.

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National

Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to tobacco regulation law
The Supreme Court has decided not to hear challenges made by the tobacco industry regarding the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulation of tobacco products. The 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act gives the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products. With this decision, the FDA will be able to move forward with its development and implementation of graphic warnings for cigarette packages; however, due to another court decision striking down the set of images that were initially proposed, the agency must undertake a scientific process to select a new set of graphic images. Click here to read more. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS-CAN) and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids released statements about this decision; further information from the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium about the court decisions related to graphic warnings can be found here.

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