Government's case against tobacco goes to trial

Federal lawyers say the cigarette industry conspired to deceive the public.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- After five years of legal wrangling, the nation's largest cigarette-makers are meeting federal lawyers in court for the trial phase of the government's record $280 billion civil racketeering suit against the tobacco industry.
The government alleges the industry conspired to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking and the addictive nature of nicotine, and illegally targeted children through marketing campaigns.
Government lawyers were to begin presenting their case in U.S. District Court today.
Industry lawyers acknowledge tobacco executives may have expressed doubts about public health concerns in the past, but say that doesn't amount to fraud.
"Fraud is, 'I have a specific intention to mislead you or take money from you by deceiving you,"' said Philip Morris USA attorney William Ohlemeyer. "Fraud is a very high bar."
Documents
William Schultz, a former Justice Department lawyer who headed the case during the Clinton administration, said the government would use as evidence internal industry documents that have surfaced in other cases and show tobacco executives knew some of their public statements about health risks related to smoking were untrue.
"It's not just that they said things that were false, but the documents show they knew they were false," Schultz said.
In addition to disagreeing about whether fraud occurred in the past, cigarette makers and Justice lawyers also disagree on what the government must demonstrate about the future to win the case.
The industry says companies have significantly changed the way they sell and market cigarettes. They say that makes it impossible for the government to prove fraud is likely to occur in the future, something the government must show to win its case.
Justice lawyers argue that evidence of past fraud is enough to conclude that future wrongdoing is likely to occur.
The industry settled lawsuits with the states over smoking-related health costs for $246 billion. Those agreements, reached in the late 1990s, led to limits on advertising and marketing and shuttered industry lobbying and research organizations.
David Bernick, attorney for Brown & amp; Williamson Tobacco Corp., says the government's case ignores those reforms.
Like the states, the government initially sued to recover the costs of treating sick smokers. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled the government couldn't do that but did allow the Justice Department to sue under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
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