Appeals court upholds cigarette-marketing limits

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court agreed Friday with the major elements of a 2006 landmark ruling that found the nation’s top tobacco companies guilty of racketeering and fraud for deceiving the public about the dangers of smoking.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington unanimously upheld requirements that manufacturers change the way they market cigarettes. The requirements, which have been on hold pending appeal, would ban labels such as “low tar,” “light,” “ultra light” or “mild,” since such cigarettes have been found no safer than others.

Throughout the 10 years the case has been litigated, tobacco companies have denied committing fraud. The companies argued the ban on labels such as “light” would cost them hundreds of millions of dollars.

Philip Morris USA and its parent company, Altria Group Inc., said they will appeal to the Supreme Court.

“The court’s conclusions are not supported by the law or the evidence presented at trial, and we believe the exceptional importance of these issues justifies further review,” Altria attorney Murray Garnick said in a statement.

Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, one of six health-advocacy groups that participated in the lawsuit, said the appeals decision “represents a dramatic victory for public health and an emphatic condemnation of the tobacco industry and its behavior.”

The government filed the civil case under a 1970 racketeering law commonly known as RICO, used primarily to prosecute mobsters in cases in which there has been a group effort to commit fraud.

The suit was first filed in 1999 during the Clinton administration and pursued by the Bush administration after unsuccessful attempts to settle.

The nine-month trial heard by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler without a jury included live and written testimony from 246 witnesses and almost 14,000 exhibits in evidence.

Prosecutors said the companies secretly agreed not to compete over whose products were the least hazardous to smokers to ensure they didn’t have to publicly address the harm caused by smoking.

The government also argued the manufacturers lied about the dangers of secondhand smoke, manipulated cigarettes to maintain addiction, intentionally marketed to youth and destroyed documents to hide the dangers and protect themselves in litigation.