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Saturday, August 20, 2005
Law - Ruling may release tobacco funds
"Ruling may release tobacco funds" is the headline to this Louisville Courier Journal story that begins:
Kentucky stands to get about $125 million under a North Carolina Supreme Court ruling that tobacco companies wrongly withheld tobacco-settlement funds last year.The decision, State v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., (8/19/05) is available here via Findlaw.com.Most of the money would be used to repay $114 million Kentucky allocated this year to pay farmers their 2004 settlement checks after cigarette makers halted payments.
The companies argued that Congress' passage last year of a $10.1 billion tobacco buyout took them off the hook for the 2004 settlement payments, though buyout disbursements didn't start until 2005. The court rejected that argument yesterday.
The ruling means cigarette makers must pay $424 million to tobacco growers and holders of growing rights in 14 states, including Kentucky and Indiana.
Bill Phelps, spokesman for Philip Morris USA, and David Howard, spokesman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., said their companies haven't decided whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 20, 2005 10:22 AM
Posted to General Law Related