Tobacco.org

Six tobacco companies suing FDA in BG court  

A local business is among the nation’s largest tobacco companies that filed a lawsuit Monday in Bowling Green, claiming restrictions in a new federal law violate their freedom of speech.

Bowling Green-based Commonwealth Brands and five other companies claim the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act prohibits tobacco companies from giving truthful information to adult customers, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.

“It affects us like any other company,” said Robert Wilkey, senior legal counsel for Commonwealth Brands, “and we believe it inappropriately interferes with our ability to communicate to adult consumers.” . . .

The lawsuit was filed in Bowling Green because of its close proximity to some of the companies, Wilkey said.

Along with Commonwealth Brands, plaintiff National Tobacco Company is based in Louisville, Conwood Company has a manufacturing facility in Bowling Green and Discount Tobacco City & Lottery is based in Murray and has stores throughout western Kentucky.

Other tobacco companies in the suit are R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard Tobacco, North Carolina-based companies which are the second and third largest tobacco manufacturers in the United States. Commonwealth Brands, owned by Imperial Tobacco Group in Britain, is the fourth largest U.S. tobacco manufacturer. . . .

“My expectation is that this lawsuit will be ultimately unsuccessful,” said Ed Sweda, a lawyer for the Tobacco Products Liability Project in Boston, pointing to previous laws limiting cigarette advertising and marketing that have been in place for more than 40 years.

Floyd Abrams, a lawyer representing Lorillard in the case, said he was confident the suit would be successful.

“Some of these regulations go so far in the direction of stifling the entirely lawful speech of Lorillard to its customers that it violates the First Amendment,” he said.

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