Tobacco.org

• Tobacco Companies Defeat Bid to Revive Suits by Three Nations 

Philip Morris Cos. and other cigarette makers won the final round in lawsuits by Guatemala, Nicaragua and Ukraine, as the U.S. Supreme Court turned aside an appeal by the three nations.

The suits sought to recoup the costs of treating millions of sick smokers under the national health care programs in those countries. A federal appeals court in Washington threw out the complaints in May.

U.S. judges have uniformly rejected tobacco lawsuits by foreign governments, generally concluding that any losses suffered by public treasuries are too tangental to the alleged wrongdoing to be addressed by a court. . . The case is Guatemala v. Tobacco Institute, 01-338.

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