Tobacco Industry Suits

Lawyers for the state of California and local governments have reached an agreement that could send $725 million over 25 years to Orange County if state attorneys general settle the current raft of lawsuits against the nation's tobacco companies. The proposed formula, The Times has learned, also could send about $2.8 billion to Los Angeles County and $287.5 million to the city of Los Angeles.

Lawyers for the state of California and local governments have reached an agreement that could send $2.8 billion over 25 years to Los Angeles County if state attorneys general settle the current raft of lawsuits against the nation's tobacco companies. The proposed formula, The Times has learned, could also send about $287.5 million to the city of Los Angeles.

Three of the five major tobacco companies that have been in litigation settlement talks with state attorneys general are refusing to return to the negotiating table when discussions resume today in New York. A source close to the talks said the attorneys general see the companies' decision as a negotiating tactic and think the manufacturers will eventually return to the table. The source said the attorneys general decided to resume negotiations even if only two companies participate.

Buoyed by recent court victories and the demise of tough, anti-smoking legislation in Congress, the tobacco industry finds itself in a surprisingly strong position as it seeks to settle three dozen multibillion-dollar lawsuits filed by state attorneys general. Helpful legal developments, ideal timing, and even the composition of the team negotiating for state attorneys general all seem to be working in the industry's favor.

The White House, frustrated by the collapse of anti-smoking legislation, is giving increasingly serious consideration to a strategy aimed at extracting massive monetary damages from cigarette makers by filing a lawsuit on behalf of the government's Medicare program.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott declared Sunday that comprehensive tobacco control legislation, which appeared to command majority support in theory but not in its specifics, is "dead in the water" and may never come to a final vote. Although the bill had seemed on the road to Senate approval as recently as last month, Lott (R-Miss.

After stripping legal protections for Big Tobacco from sweeping anti-smoking legislation, the Senate on Tuesday took a major step toward reducing the industry's vulnerability to lawsuits by adopting a cap on fees for attorneys who win big damage awards against the industry. By a vote of 49 to 48, lawmakers set $500 per hour as the maximum a lawyer could get for bringing a successful suit against the industry in the future.

The tobacco industry suffered a historic courtroom defeat in Florida on Wednesday when a jury ordered the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. to pay $1 million to the family of a smoker who died of lung cancer, including the first punitive damages awarded in 45 years of anti-smoking litigation. The verdict in Jacksonville was only the second courtroom loss ever for the $50-billion industry, which has settled several major cases during the last year without admitting liability.

When tobacco lawyers checked into their hotels for the state's anti-tobacco mega-trial, they were greeted by in-room copies of Minnesota Monthly with a beaming Jeanne Weigum on its cover. The magazine had named Weigum its 1997 Minnesotan of the Year, which must have given the tobacco folks pause. Unlike most people saluted in such a manner, Weigum is not an industrialist, philanthropist or cultural icon. She is a veteran anti-smoking activist.

During the first week of Minnesota's massive case against the tobacco industry, attorneys for the state started unveiling some of the "smoking howitzer" documents that Minnesota Atty. Gen. Hubert H. Humphrey III told members of Congress they needed to see before making a decision on the proposed $368.5-billion national tobacco settlement.