Judge asked to award legal costs in tobacco trial

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department told a
federal judge on Wednesday that cigarette makers should have to
pay the legal costs the government has incurred if it prevails
in its long-running racketeering case against them.

Lawyers for the department made the request in a brief
filed with U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, saying the cost
of pursuing the case had been inflated by “both questionable
and vexatious litigation tactics” tobacco companies had used
throughout the case.

“An award of costs is particularly appropriate under these
circumstances — the statutes, case law, federal and local
rules so establish,” the department said in its brief.

The department did not pinpoint the exact amount it would
seek. But as of earlier this year, it said the case had cost at
least $130 million since it was filed in 1999.

A spokesman for Philip Morris USA said the company would
have no comment until officials had a chance to study the
brief. Other tobacco company representatives were not
immediately available for comment.

In the brief filed on Wednesday, the department tried to
buttress the arguments made during nearly nine months of
hearings in the landmark case.

The government has charged that cigarette makers engaged in
a 50-year scheme to deceive consumers about smoking’s dangers
and said sanctions were needed to prevent future wrongdoing.

The department has asked Kessler to force cigarette makers
to fund a $10 billion quit-smoking program and another $4
billion anti-smoking education campaign. It asked Kessler to
appoint monitors to enforce the remedies and impose further
restrictions on the industry conduct.

Tobacco companies have countered that the government’s case
ignored restrictions placed on the industry in a 1998
settlement with state attorneys general and had failed to show
the formation of an unlawful enterprise, as required to prove
racketeering.

The companies have told Kessler that any remedy must be
designed solely to prevent and restrain future racketeering
violations.

Targeted in the lawsuit, filed in 1999, are Altria Group
Inc. and its Philip Morris USA unit; Loews Corp.’s Lorillard
Tobacco unit, which has a tracking stock, Carolina Group;
Vector Group Ltd.’s Liggett Group; Reynolds American Inc.’s
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco unit and British American Tobacco Plc
unit British American Tobacco Investments Ltd.

An appeals court in February denied the government its
biggest potential weapon in the case — disgorgement of $280
billion in past tobacco profits.

The government has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review
that decision.