Jump to full article: Business Wire, 2001-05-22
Intro: The U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia also unanimously reversed a ruling by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler that had kept alive several lawsuits filed by union labor health funds against the tobacco companies alleging Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) violations.
``This decision confirms that foreign governments have no greater legal rights in American courts than U.S. litigants, and it sends a clear message that these cases have no place in the U.S. court system,'' said Steven Rissman, Philip Morris senior assistant general counsel. . .
In the case of the health funds, the Court found that, in addition to suffering no direct injury, ``insurers are hard pressed to demonstrate financial harm flowing from the tobacco industry's alleged wrongdoing because they possess information that would have indicated a need to collect higher premiums from smokers'' and that, ``moreover, the insurers have likely already passed the costs on to the directly injured (smokers) through higher premiums.'' . .
``This decision demonstrates that efforts by plaintiffs' attorneys to travel the globe in an attempt to convince foreign governments to file suits against the tobacco industry in the United States will be futile,'' said Rissman. . .
``It's time for these countries to realize they are being led down a primrose path by plaintiffs' lawyers who are acting like door-to-door lawsuit salesmen, promising results they cannot deliver,'' said Rissman.
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