ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 29, 1996 TAG: 9603290082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: AUSTIN, TEXAS
SOURCE: Associated Press
Texas on Thursday became the largest state to sue the tobacco industry, seeking to recoup more than $4 billion spent on tobacco-related illness and to halt advertising it says targets children.
The state that most calls to mind the hard-smoking, hard-riding Marlboro man is asking for damages that far exceed claims filed by six other states.
The states say the companies should reimburse them for the Medicaid costs of treating illnesses linked to tobacco.
Philip Morris, one of the targets of the suit, said the arguments have no basis in state or federal law and vowed to fight the claims.
Suits also have been filed by Florida, Mississippi, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Louisiana and Minnesota.
In Mississippi, attorneys for the state on Wednesday asked a judge to force tobacco companies to disclose their lobbying efforts aimed at elected Mississippi officials. The attorneys also want the industry to provide a list of contributions to those officials.
The anti-tobacco forces met with some success recently when Liggett Group, maker of Chesterfield and discount brands, broke ranks with the rest of the industry by settling with some of the states.
But the Liggett settlement carries a relatively low payment and has done little more than intensify the industry's resolve to battle a rising tide of lawsuits.
Tobacco company stock prices were little changed after Texas Attorney General Dan Morales announced the action in federal court in Texarkana.
Morales said it was the first suit filed by a government claiming the tobacco industry has violated federal mail and wire fraud statutes, federal racketeering laws and federal conspiracy laws. It addresses not only cigarettes but other tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco.
The $4 billion sought by the state is the estimated amount Texas taxpayers have paid in smoking-related Medicaid claims alone from 1980 through 1996. The figure includes state and federal money put into the health-care program for the poor.
Florida is seeking $1.4 billion.
The Texas action also claims the tobacco companies target youngsters with their advertisements and seeks to ban the ads.
``We believe the state will lose - after spending millions of taxpayer dollars in time and costs. The state's taxpayers should be deeply disappointed by this waste of the state's money and employees' time,'' Philip Morris said in a statement.
Philip Morris said a federal judge in 1994 dismissed claims under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in a California class-action lawsuit filed against the cigarette industry, saying Congress excluded actions under RICO seeking recovery for personal injury expenses.
Others sued by Texas are The American Tobacco Co. Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., B.A.T. Industries P.L.C, Liggett Group Inc., Lorillard Tobacco Co. Inc., United States Tobacco Co., the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton Inc., the Council For Tobacco Research - USA Inc., and the Tobacco Institute Inc.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Texas Attorney General Dan Morales displays aby CNBcigarette ad Thursday, saying it is aimed at kids. The state has
sued to stop such ads. color.