Top Court Allows Challenge To Required State Payments; Pfizer Wins and Grace Loses
Jump to full article: The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, 2006-10-11
Author: MARK H. ANDERSON and VANESSA O'CONNELL
Intro: A group of 30 states failed to persuade the Supreme Court to review whether three small tobacco companies can use one lawsuit to challenge state-by-state payment requirements related to a massive 1998 industry settlement.
The court's decision not to consider the appeal means the three companies can proceed, in a New York federal court, to challenge payments to state accounts established to cover damages in tobacco lawsuits.
The companies had challenged provisions of the settlement under which all tobacco companies -- even those that didn't participate in the settlement -- are required to make annual payments to the states in perpetuity, an amount estimated to reach $243 billion over the first 25 years.
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