If At First You Don’t Succeed…
As Jim Hood learns (the hard way) that words are not his forte, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and the other AGs may be learning (the hard way) that lawsuits are not their forte. General Lockyer sued Big Tobacco again. The Big Tobacco-States Cartel didn’t work out perfectly after the first lawsuit, as the Biggies have lost market share and placed some of their payments to the states in a “Dispute Escrow.” So Lockyer filed a second suit to clarify some of the issues from the settlement of the first suit.
(Aside: Not all of the Biggies used the Dispute Escrow. Philip Morris paid the states in full. Lockyer sued them anyway. Perfect.)
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, co-chair of the National Association of Attorneys General tobacco committee, wants to help clear up the confusion too: “At the end of the day, we’ll get the money back. States were doing their best with ineffective escrow statutes.”
In what way were those statutes ineffective? Reuters summarizes Miller: “Cigarette-makers who signed the accord will likely be back with fresh claims to reduce payments because they lost market share in 2004, Miller said, but he added that these firms won back market share in 2005 and so far in 2006.” In other words, the statutes were ineffective because they didn’t PROTECT Big Tobacco.
But hey, a deal with the devil may be necessary if it is for a good purpose like getting people to quit smoking and to pay for medical care, right? That is the logic of the MSA, right?
Not so say Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon and Missouri State Auditor Claire McCaskill. Mr. Nixon ripped his state for blowing their tobacco money (which now totals over 1 Billion Dollars) on everything but smoking. According to the Missouri Auditor, only two-tenths of one percent of Missouri’s tobacco money has gone toward tobacco-related programs.
But hey, surely they’ll get it straight this time around, right? Or maybe the next? What is the learning curve on de-facto-national-regulatory-cartel-lawsuit-settlement lawsuits?