Tobacco.org

3rd Circuit Rejects Hospitals' RICO and Antitrust Suit Against Tobacco Companies 

Chalk up another victory for Big Tobacco now that a federal appeals court has refused to revive an antitrust and civil RICO suit brought by 16 nonprofit hospitals in Pennsylvania to seek reimbursement of the costs of treating non-paying patients with tobacco-related diseases.

In its 33-page opinion in Allegheny General Hospital v. Philip Morris Inc., the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that "because the hospitals' damages are too speculative and their injuries are too remote from the tobacco companies' alleged wrongdoing, proximate cause is lacking, and thus the hospitals do not have standing to sue." . .

U.S. Circuit Judge Julio Fuentes said the hospitals' allegations encompassed two theories -- an indirect-injury theory and a direct-injury theory.

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• Appeals Court Rejects Tobacco Suit 

A federal appeals court has refused to revive a lawsuit by hospitals seeking reimbursement from tobacco companies after they treated poor patients with smoking-related illnesses.

Sixteen non-profit hospitals had claimed the companies conspired for more than 40 years to manipulate the nicotine content of cigarettes and deceived the public about the potential for addiction and other health risks.

They said they could have more effectively counseled patients to quit if the companies had not deceived the public about the risks.

But the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the damages were too speculative and the injuries too remote from the cigarette makers' alleged wrongdoing to force the companies to pay the costs. . .

Judge Julio Fuentes said hospitals could sue car manufacturers simply by alleging that they ``conspired to keep defective vehicles on the road.'' . . . Allegheny General Hospital v. Philip Morris

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R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Applauds Dismissal of Third-party Lawsuit in Pennsylvania 

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania yesterday dismissed, in its entirety, a third-party payer lawsuit filed against the tobacco industry by the owners and operators of hospitals and health-care facilities (Allegheny General Hospital, et al., vs. Philip Morris, Inc., et al.).

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