Georgia files $2.78 billion tobacco lawsuit

ATLANTA (Reuter) The state of Georgia filed a lawsuit Friday
seeking billions of dollars in damages from seven tobacco
manufacturers and the industry's lobbying group, joining dozens of
states that have sued tobacco makers. The lawsuit, filed in Fulton
County Superior Court, said the state's Medicaid program has spent
$2.78 billion on tobaccorelated illnesses and injuries in Georgia
since 1968. ``The premise of this action is that this industry, and
not the State of Georgia or its citizens, should pay for the
staggering health care costs caused by its (tobacco industry)
actions,'' said the lawsuit, which had been expected. Forty other
states have sued the tobacco industry and two, Florida and
Mississippi, have won multibilliondollar settlements. Georgia asked
for triple damages and punitive damages under the Georgia
Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization law. The lawsuit
also seeks an injunction banning the marketing and advertising of
tobacco products to Georgia children. The state said it named Philip
Morris Inc.; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; the Liggett Group; Brown &
Williamson Tobacco Corp.; BAT Industries; Lorillard Tobacco Co.; the
American Tobacco Co. and the Tobacco Institute lobbying group as
defendants. The lawsuit alleged tobacco companies have had a
``unified campaign of misinformation and denials regarding the
dangerousness of their products'' while shifting ``financial
responsibility for their tortious and illegal conduct'' to the state
of Georgia. The state contended that the tobacco firms engaged in
racketeering by hiding the harmful effects of smoking from the
public, defrauding taxpayers by asking the state to pay the costs of
medical care for addicted customers, and by making false statements
in advertising and promotional campaigns. The lawsuit was not a
suprise. On Tuesday, Gov. Zell Miller and Attorney General Thurbert
Baker said in a joint statement that such a lawsuit could be filed
later in the week. Former Georgia Attorney General Mike Bowers had
declined to join the other states, saying such a lawsuit would not be
proper under existing law. But he notified cigarette makers that
Georgia wanted equal treatment under any national settlement. The
industry and the states subsequently reached a $368.5 billion
settlement, which now requires congressional approval. Bowers later
resigned from his post to become a Republican candidate for governor.
^REUTER@