http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/category/settlements.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://detnews.com/article/20091105/OPINION01/911050335/Stop-mortgaging-tobacco-cash http://tobacco.org/news/292179.html Idea 32: Stop stealing from future taxpayers by mortgaging the tobacco lawsuit settlement money. . . .' Benefits: Those three trips to the tobacco lawsuit loan window are responsible for about $80 million in annual debt service payments. That money is not available for government services, including revenue sharing for communities, college scholarships and certain Medicaid programs. Stopping this practice would free up money for higher budget priorities. How: The best solution might be a ballot initiative to remove any ambiguity in the state constitution's balanced budget provisions. Publicizing this practice might shame lawmakers into stopping it. Obstacles: Lawmakers prefer to spend but fear asking current voters to pay more, thinking it is better to stiff future taxpayers. Detroit News Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.fayobserver.com/Articles/2009/11/02/948642 http://tobacco.org/news/292076.html A foundation that distributes North Carolina's tobacco settlement money broke the law by approving a $15 million grant behind closed doors, State Auditor Beth Wood said Monday. In a report, Wood accused the Golden LEAF Foundation of repeatedly restricting and delaying her access to records of the foundation's meetings and investments. That is worrisome, Wood said. State lawmakers set up Golden LEAF, which stands for the Long-term Economic Advancement Foundation, in 1999 to manage the proceeds of a historic settlement with cigarette makers. The Rocky Mount-based foundation has received $706.5 million Fayetteville Observer & Times Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.mainjustice.com/2009/11/01/scruggs-prosecutor-writes-tell-all-book/ http://tobacco.org/news/291980.html The recently retired lead prosecutor in the case against Mississippi trial lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs has written an insider’s account of the sensational judicial bribery scandal that sent the billionaire tobacco litigator, his son and several associates to prison. Veteran former prosecutor Tom Dawson teamed up with conservative Mississippi legal blogger Alan Lange to examine the Scruggs case and the conviction of another Mississippi trial lawyer named Paul Minor. “Kings of Tort: The True Story of Dickie Scruggs, Paul Minor and Two Decades of Political and Legal Manipulation in Mississippi” will be published in December. . . . In the 1990s, Scruggs teamed up with Missisippi’s Democratic state Attorney General, Michael Moore, to sue major tobacco companies. One of Scrugg’s adversaries in the tobacco wars was his former fraternity brother at Ole Miss, Haley Barbour, then chairman of the Republican National Committee and an ally of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a vigorous advocate of tort reform. Barbour was elected governor of Mississippi in 2003, a position he still holds today. The state legislature passed a Barbour-sponsored law limiting the ability to file tort claims in the state. Scruggs reportedly earned $1 billion in fees from the tobacco litigation, and his role was memorialized in a movie, The Insider. . . . Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Oxford continue to investigate Scrugg's former associate, P.L. Blake, a Mississippi Delta farmer who reportedly was paid $50 million for helping Scruggs in the tobacco litigation in the 1990s. Main Justice Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www2.tricities.com/tri/news/local/article/twenty_southwest_virginia_projects_receive_more_than_30_million_in_tobacco_/34942/ http://tobacco.org/news/291833.html WYTHEVILLE, Va.--About 20 Southwest Virginia projects received more than $30 million in awards today from the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission. The lion's share--$25 million - was awarded to the proposed King College medical school. "We see this as a game changer," commission Executive Director Neal Noyes said when presenting the plan to the Southwest Virginia Economic Development Committee. TriCities.com Herald Courier/WJHL-TV) dmcgee@bristolnews.com (David McGee * Staff Writer / Bristol Herald Courier ) Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6692411.html http://tobacco.org/news/291832.html Prominent Houston attorney John O'Quinn was one of two men who died this morning when their speeding SUV slammed into a tree on Allen Parkway after the driver apparently lost control, police said. "I'm stunned. The community lost one of its biggest assets," said Rick Laminack, who worked with O'Quinn from 1987 until 2006. "He was a great lawyer who shared a lot of his wealth with people who needed help." Houston Chronicle dale.lezon@chron.com (DALE LEZON HOUSTON CHRONICLE) Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/side/6692962.html http://tobacco.org/news/291831.html This story originally ran Jan. 11, 1998 . . . Texas' lawsuit against the major tobacco companies, in which O'Quinn is serving as lead attorney, went on hold for several months, then added another major player, South Carolina tobacco specialist Ron Motley, with whom O'Quinn would have to share the stage. . . . The great cases and big victories will return, one expects, assuming he does not lose his license. The tobacco case reportedly is on the verge of settling, leaving the plaintiff lawyers with $1 billion or more to split up. But the weight of the accusations and the headlines they've generated has been great. Houston Chronicle Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/221870-texas-judge-to-handle-scruggs-case http://tobacco.org/news/291733.html A federal judge in Texas will hear a lawsuit claiming that disgraced former trial attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs and several others conspired to defraud a former colleague of millions of dollars in legal fees. Chief Judge Edith Jones of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ordered the case be reassigned to U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston, Texas. The lawsuit against Scruggs was filed by William Roberts Wilson Jr. of Tuscaloosa, Ala. He and Scruggs, who currently suits in federal prison, once worked together suing asbestos companies. Southeast Texas Record chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com ( Chris Rizo) Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.wztv.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.al/2fd273c1-www.fox17.com.shtml http://tobacco.org/news/291635.html A federal judge in Texas has been assigned to preside over an Alabama attorney's lawsuit that alleges imprisoned attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs and several others conspired to defraud him of millions in legal fees. On Friday, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Edith H. Jones ordered William Roberts Wilson Jr.'s case reassigned to U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston, Texas. . . . Wilson claimed Scruggs cheated him out of money and used it to fund a batch of landmark anti-tobacco lawsuits of the 1990s AP Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=855482&category=STATE http://tobacco.org/news/291492.html Paterson, a former Senate Democratic leader, and Sampson clashed in public for the second time in just over a month. The Senate leader suggested that refinancing tobacco bonds could generate $500 million (that move, however, would add to long-term costs). Tobacco bonds are payments the state makes in return for up-front cash it received from federal tobacco lawsuit settlements. Paterson called the idea a "non-starter" and, after the meeting, said the notion represented "phony revenues." Albany Times-Union Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/142972 http://tobacco.org/news/291461.html In a public meeting with legislative leaders, Governor Paterson shot down a plan floated by Senate democrats to refinance tobacco settlement bonds. New York State is facing a $3 billion deficit, and needs to come up with revenue quickly. Senators predict their tobacco proposal could raise $500 million. But Paterson says the money isn't guaranteed and couldn't come fast enough to pay bills due this December. WNYC Radio newstips@wnyc.org Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aEWj6.QiznOU http://tobacco.org/news/291459.html Tobacco Bonds The tobacco bonds are backed by remuneration from tobacco companies to settle lawsuits and appropriations by the Legislature if those payments aren’t sufficient, according to the official statement for bonds sold in 2003. The sale of the bonds, to close a deficit in 2003, led to a reduction in the state’s bond rating by Standard & Poor’s. . . . New York’s Local Government Assistance Corp., backed by sales tax receipts, or the Tobacco Settlement Financing Corp., backed by tobacco company payments to settle lawsuits, have about $7.44 billion of debt outstanding. Bondholders are scheduled to receive payments of $891 million in the year ended March 31, 2010, according to the state’s annual information statement. The Senate Democrats’ proposal for the tobacco bonds would have the state sell new bonds with a thinner cushion of excess payments from tobacco companies than exists for the bonds sold in 2003, said Travis Proulx, a spokesman for Sampson. That would allow the state to sell $500 million of additional bonds, with the exact amount depending on how much of projected payments by tobacco companies the state wants to pledge to bondholders. Bloomberg News mquint@bloomberg.net (Michael Quint) Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/221762-mcconnell-tapped-tobacco-war-chest-to-fund-9-year-lead-paint-battle http://tobacco.org/news/291443.html For nine years prospective federal judge nominee Jack McConnell battled paint makers with boundless powers he received from attorneys general he helped elect. As he awaits the nomination process, McConnell, of the Motley Rice firm in Providence, continues in his role as Rhode Island Democratic Party treasurer. Had he been successful in carrying out the mammoth lead paint abatement plan he devised in 1999, and which fell apart last year, McConnell and other lawyers would have shared hundreds of millions in fees, maybe billions. According to court records, the abatement plan would have bulldozed Rhode Island from end to end. State and federal housing laws and regulations that would forbid entering properties without warrants would have been suspended. . .. The firm identifies him as negotiator and primary drafter of the master tobacco settlement agreement of 1998. Whitehouse explained to reporters that the state wouldn't spend any money on lead abatement because Motley Rice had "a big war chest from the tobacco litigation," according to a report in the Providence Journal. "McConnell brings horses in a big way," Whitehouse said. "He's part of a great firm with very deep pockets." Southeast Texas Record Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6678616.html http://tobacco.org/news/291442.html The Texas treasury lost $19.5 million through an investment in the Ponzi scheme run by convicted financial swindler Bernard Madoff. The money was part of a $224.5 million investment the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Co. had with a Texas-based hedge fund called Austin Capital Safe Harbor. Austin Capital closed in May due to losses it suffered in one of Madoff's scam investment funds. Comptroller Susan Combs chairs the Treasury Safekeeping Trust, which manages $50 billion in tobacco lawsuit settlement funds, TexPool investments for 2,000 local governments and Treasury Pool for managing state funds. Combs spokesman R.J. DeSilva said the $19.5 million was written off last December after Austin Capital notified the state the money had been lost when Madoff's Ponzi scheme collapsed. The treasury had been investing with Austin Capital since 2006. Houston Chronicle r.g.ratcliffe@chron.com (R.G. RATCLIFFE HOUSTON CHRONICLE) Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.americanlegacy.org/3201.aspx http://tobacco.org/news/291315.html Today in Columbus, Ohio, Judge David Fais of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas permanently enjoined the State from dissolving the endowment of the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation (OTPF). This decision is a major step forward in the effort spearheaded by the American Legacy Foundation's to safeguard the state's tobacco prevention money for its intended purpose: to save Ohioans' lives. Two Ohioans were also plaintiffs in the case: Robert Miller and David Weinmann, both longtime smokers who relied on services and programs supported by the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation to quit smoking, brought claims on behalf of the intended beneficiaries of OTPF - Ohio smokers. American Legacy Foundation Tue, 11 Aug 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091014/NEWS01/910149981/-1/news http://tobacco.org/news/291121.html The state says a Brookline business that sells loose tobacco to customers who roll their own cigarettes on machines inside the shop is a cigarette manufacturer and is obligated to pay into a tobacco settlement fund. But an attorney for North of the Border Tobacco, which operates under the name Tobacco Haven, told a Merrimack County Superior Court judge Tuesday that his client isn't manufacturing cigarettes and should not be obligated to pay. Judge Larry Smukler heard arguments in the case and will issue a ruling in the next 30 to 60 days. In August, the New Hampshire attorney general's office cited the small business for possible violation of state laws, saying a violation might put the state at risk of losing millions of dollars in tobacco settlement funds. Assistant Attorney General David Rienzo, who works for the consumer protection and antitrust bureau, said the case was the first in the state and possibly the country. Nashua Telegraph hbernstein@cabinet.com (HATTIE BERNSTEIN, Staff Writer) Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT