Tobacco.org

• Feb. tobacco lawsuit revised and refiled 

A lawsuit filed in February by more than 4,000 tobacco growers and quota holders against major cigarette makers has been revised and refiled, adding almost 2,000 more plaintiffs and alleging that manufacturers manipulated the tobacco auction system.

Lawyer Alexander J. Pires Jr. of Washington, the lead attorney bringing the lawsuit, said he'd gotten help from two antitrust law experts to rewrite the suit, which provides new detail. "It's more explicit, and spells out how they [defendant companies] have rigged the auctions," Pires said.

He said the major tobacco companies agree to the prices to be bid at public tobacco auctions and coordinate bidding so that 90 percent of all bids end in ties. This results in artificially depressed prices and losses of millions of dollars for farmers, he said.

In addition, the lawsuit, with 5,930 plaintiffs, says the cigarette makers have tried to eliminate the federal tobacco program through manipulation of tobacco quota and through illegal contracts.

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