It limits funding of cessation program
Jump to full article: New Orleans (LA) Times Picayune, 2007-02-08
Author: Susan Finch
Intro: Sharply amending a Civil District Court jury's landmark 2004 verdict ordering the nation's big tobacco firms to fork over $591 million to help Louisiana smokers kick the habit, a state appeals court based in New Orleans pared the award Wednesday by more than half, said the remaining money can pay only for traditional stop-smoking aids and limited the number of smokers eligible for assistance.
The decision is the first major development in the case since the jury ruled for the plaintiffs after concluding the tobacco firms had conspired for more than 50 years to distort public knowledge about the effects of smoking.
Wednesday's 51-page decision issued by five-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal drew predictably differing responses from lawyers on opposite sides of the case. . . .
Nevertheless, Herman said, the 4th Circuit decision opens the way for the case to go back to civil court, where a judge will administer the money in a trust fund to underwrite a wide array of assistance to help people quit smoking and set up centers to research and provide training in new ways to stop smoking.
Philip Morris attorney Phil Wittmann took a much different view, saying first that the cost of smoking cessation assistance to a reduced pool of smokers will be far less than $279 million.
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