Tobacco firms lose ruling but escape damage

[Omaha Steve]

Full story: http://money.excite.com/ht/nw/bus/20060817/hle_bus-wbt005802.html



Tobacco firms lose ruling but escape damage

Thursday August 17, 8:48 PM EDT

By Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cigarette makers escaped major financial penalties on Thursday, even though a federal judge found them liable for violating racketeering laws in a decades-long conspiracy to hide the dangers of smoking.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that the group of tobacco companies had broken the law, but could not be forced to fund a multibillion-dollar quit-smoking campaign, as the government had sought.

"Cigarette smoking causes disease, suffering, and death. Despite internal recognition of this fact, defendants have publicly denied, distorted, and minimized the hazards of smoking for decades," she said in the 1,653-page opinion.

Kessler said the companies suppressed research, destroyed documents and manipulated nicotine levels to perpetuate addiction, but an appeals court ruling prevented her from slapping the companies with costly remedies.

[Pithlet]

1. Duplicate.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2462258