Cigarette Makers and Feds Meet in Court
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WASHINGTON - After five years of legal wrangling, the nation's largest cigarette-makers are meeting federal lawyers in court for the trial phase of the government's record $280 billion civil racketeering suit against the tobacco industry.    The government alleges the industry conspired to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking and the addictive nature of nicotine, and illegally targeted children through marketing campaigns...
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WASHINGTON The tobacco industry urged a federal appeals court today to throw out a decision allowing the Justice Department to sue cigarette companies for 280 (b) billion dollars.
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Philip Morris USA challenged a $10.1 billion consumer fraud ruling Wednesday, telling the Illinois Supreme Court that its "light" cigarettes performed as advertised.
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Top tobacco companies urged a federal judge Friday to put her landmark judgment against the industry on hold and let them keep selling "light" and "low tar" cigarettes until they've had a chance to appeal.
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On the eve of a $280 billion  racketeering trial of major cigarette makers, political and  legal uncertainties are still seen hanging over the U.S.  government's long-awaited case.
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WASHINGTON  - Major cigarette makers go on trial on Tuesday in the U.S. government's $280 billion racketeering case that charges the tobacco industry with deliberately deceiving the public about the risks of smoking since the 1950s.
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Lawyers for the tobacco industry and the government debated yesterday whether a law drafted to prosecute mobsters can be used to obtain $280 billion from cigarette makers.
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Florida Supreme Court judges on Wednesday questioned attorneys for smokers and cigarette companies on whether a case involving thousands of smokers can properly be tried as a class action.
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Seven years after being rebuffed by the Supreme Court, anti-smoking advocates are again seeking federal regulation of tobacco, a step they say is needed to deter children from lighting up and to get smokers to quit.
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A U.S. judge is expected on Monday to   rule on whether to certify as a class action a lawsuit that   accuses tobacco companies of defrauding smokers into thinking   "light" cigarettes were safer than regular brands, according to   notice sent to lawyers in the case.
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WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court is about to plunge into an agenda laden with issues affecting the business sector. Tobacco companies, the biotech industry, and operators of coal-fired power plants have a stake in cases the court will hear in the next month.
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A new ruling has given class action status to smokers who bought cigarettes marketed as lower risk for potentially large anti-tobacco lawsuit
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Cigarette companies have been honest in highlighting the "dangerous" risks of smoking, a lawyer for the tobacco industry has told a US court.
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TORONTO (CP) - Retailers, cigarette manufacturers and advocates for the rights of Canada's smokers were mobilizing Wednesday for a long, arduous battle over the Ontario government's stringent new crackdown on smoking.
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WASHINGTON - Tobacco companies, desperate to maintain their hold on tens of millions of American smokers, worked together for decades to deceive the public about the dangers of cigarettes and to encourage the young to start puffing, government lawyers said Tuesday at the start of a racketeering trial.    Justice Department lawyers pointed to numerous statements by industry executives that created doubt among smokers about whether the habit was harmful and whether they really needed to kick it...
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A smoker who accused tobacco companies of jacking up cigarette prices to recoup billions of dollars they pay each year to U.S. states lost a federal court appeal on Wednesday.
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A U.S. judge is expected on Monday to  rule on whether to certify as a class action a lawsuit that  accuses tobacco companies of defrauding smokers into thinking  "light" cigarettes were safer than regular brands, according to  notice sent to lawyers in the case.