Jump to full article: Bloomberg News, 2001-10-29
Author: Greg Stohr
Intro: 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 tangential to the alleged wrongdoing to be addressed by a court. . .
``We look forward to the day when all of these foreign cases are dismissed,'' William S. Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris' associate general counsel, said in statement.
Shares of New York-based Philip Morris fell 19 cents to $49.68 in trading today. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., based in Winston Salem, North Carolina, fell 29 cents to $58.32.
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