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Tobacco farmers plan huge lawsuit 

Flue-cured tobacco farmers in five Southern states, including Georgia, plan to sue cigarette companies, state attorneys general and the U.S. Agriculture Department for as much as $18 billion over losses from quota cuts, their attorney said Thursday.

Attorney Alexander Pires Jr. of Washington, representing tobacco growers from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Florida said the lawsuit would be filed Thanksgiving week. Pires recently won a multimillion-dollar settlement for black farmers.

About 160 tobacco farmers met Oct. 12 in Smithfield, N.C., to discuss the lawsuit. An additional 700 farmers met in Georgia the next day, Pires said.

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