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Arkansas Court Strengthens General Tobacco’s Position 

Vibo Corporation d/b/a General Tobacco (GT) announced today that an Arkansas Court has denied the Arkansas Attorney General's motion to remove General Tobacco's cigarette brands from the Directory of approved brands to sell in that State and ordered the Arkansas Attorney General to arbitrate the dispute ordered in 2006, holding that GT's cigarette brands may continue to be sold lawfully in Arkansas.

Since the Arkansas Attorney General served as the identical voice for the other 42 attorneys general, they may now be legally bound to the Arkansas order.

GT believes that the Order, issued by the Circuit Court of Pulaski County on January 26, 2010, should prevent not only Arkansas but any other State that is part of the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) from delisting GT's brands. Arkansas is the only State that has brought a Court action to determine whether the delisting of General Tobacco's cigarette brands is proper. None of the States that have announced the delisting of GT's brands sought any Court's permission to do so. Now that a Court has ruled that delisting of the brands may not proceed, General Tobacco has asked all of the States in the MSA to comply with that Court's Order.

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