Tobacco lawsuits and class actions
Tobacco company payments to states may drop as smoker choices change the market, but fees for trial lawyers who negotiated the payments will never drop, reports the href=West Virginia Reporter
Trial lawyers collect half a billion dollars a year under the agreement, no matter how much states receive.
The 1998 agreement committed companies to pay states more than $200 billion over 25 years, but it allowed downward adjustments in case the market changed.
In March a consultant for the companies and the states found that in 2003, the biggest tobacco companies lost market share because of the agreement.
The finding would allow companies to reduce payments for 2005 from $6.5 billion to $5.3 billion, unless states prove they diligently suppressed competition.
Trial lawyers collect half a billion dollars a year under the agreement, no matter how much states receive.
The 1998 agreement committed companies to pay states more than $200 billion over 25 years, but it allowed downward adjustments in case the market changed.
In March a consultant for the companies and the states found that in 2003, the biggest tobacco companies lost market share because of the agreement.
The finding would allow companies to reduce payments for 2005 from $6.5 billion to $5.3 billion, unless states prove they diligently suppressed competition.
posted by JohnBowie at 1:58 PM
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