
DATE: Tuesday, March 18, 1997               TAG: 9703180295

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LAURIE ASSEO, ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   91 lines

COURT ALLOWS FLA. LAW IN TOBACCO-SUIT FIGHT THE MEASURE MAKES IT EASIER TO SUE AND RECOVER MEDICAID MONEY.

The Supreme Court let stand a Florida law Monday that makes it easier to sue tobacco companies to recover Medicaid money spent treating smoking-related illnesses.

The justices turned down industry arguments that the measure unlawfully seeks to ``stack the deck'' in the state's favor.

Florida is one of about 20 states that have sued tobacco companies in attempts to get reimbursed for Medicaid funds spent to treat smokers. Mississippi's claim is scheduled to go to trial in June, while a trial in the Florida case is expected to begin in August.

Florida's claim is aided by a law, believed to be the only one of its kind in the nation, that aims to help the state recover money from anyone believed responsible for a Medicaid patient's illness.

The 1994 measure was aimed at the tobacco industry, according to those who challenged it in court - including cigarette maker Philip Morris and Associated Industries of Florida, a business group.

Gov. Lawton Chiles said after Monday's action was announced, ``I think this is the last constitutional hurdle that big tobacco is going to try to put in our way. So I think we're getting closer to the day of tobacco justice.''

But Philip Morris lawyer Gregory G. Little noted that the action was not a ruling on the merits of the law, and he said his company could renew its challenge after the trial if necessary.

Even with the Florida law, ``we do not believe the state can carry its burden of proof'' to force Philip Morris to pay the Medicaid cost of treating smokers' illnesses, Little said.

The tobacco industry also has sued to halt federal regulations that took effect Feb. 28 requiring stores to insist that all young people buying cigarettes show photo identification to prove they are at least 18.

The industry won a big victory last year when a federal judge in New Orleans threw out a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of millions of smokers that accused cigarette makers of deliberately addicting customers.

Florida is trying to recoup an estimated $800 million it has spent each year to treat sick smokers since July 1994. A trial judge has decided the state can pursue racketeering claims that could triple whatever damages are awarded if the state wins the case.

The state's law lets officials combine into one lawsuit thousands of Medicaid patients suffering from tobacco-related health problems. It also lets the state use statistics to try to prove tobacco was to blame for some of the problems.

It bars companies from defending themselves by arguing that a Medicaid patient shares the blame for his or her own illness - by smoking, for example. Companies can raise that defense if sued by the patients themselves.

The Florida Supreme Court upheld those provisions in June 1996.

In the case denied review Monday, lawyers for Philip Morris and Associated Industries said the law violates the constitutional right of due process by giving the state rights an ordinary plaintiff would not have.

The state's lawyers said the law was a reasonable effort to force tobacco companies and others to pay the social cost of their behavior. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

THE LAW

Florida's law aims to help the state recover money for Medicaid

patients' tobacco-related illnesses. Its provisions:

Officials may combine into one lawsuit thousands of Medicaid

patients.

Companies are barred from arguing that Medicaid patients share

blame.

Graphic

MORE COURT PROCEEDINGS

In other action Monday, the Supreme Court:

Agreed to decide whether a state-owned Arkansas TV network

violated a political candidate's rights when it excluded him from a