US government witness to urge tobacco execs ouster

	Tweet

A government witness scheduled to testify in the racketeering case against cigarette makers will recommend that the courts oust senior tobacco industry management, according to court documents.

Harvard business school professor Max Bazerman will testify on behalf of the government that “structural changes” are needed to prevent the industry from future wrongdoing, the Justice Department said in a pleading filed with the court on Friday.

Those changes include “the removal of senior management and changes in oversight and reporting arrangements,” the government said.

Bazerman was at the top of a list of witnesses the government listed in the pleading. They will testify later in the case about what remedies should be imposed should the judge conclude that the industry violated civil racketeering laws.

The government’s case, which has been in trial since September, is based on accusations that the industry conspired for decades to mislead the public about the dangers of Smoking.

But last month the case was dealt a serious blow when a federal appeals court ruled that the government cannot use civil racketeering laws to force the industry to repay $280 billion in past industry profits.

Last month’s 2-1 decision by a panel of the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stripped the government of its strongest potential penalty in the racketeering case. The government had been seeking $280 billion in past profits from the industry.

The appeals court said that under the law, the government can only seek remedies that are “forward-looking.”

Bazerman and some other witnesses listed by the government on Friday were aimed at bolstering the government’s case for nonmonetary remedies.

However, tobacco industry lawyer David Bernick said on Monday there was no legal basis for seeking to force out industry executives.

Bernick said the idea is out of step with the appeals court ruling because it is backward-looking. He said government lawyers had never raised the idea before, and were “inventing something on the fly in order to gain leverage in the case.”

Targeted in the government’s lawsuit, filed in 1999, are Altria Group Inc. and its Philip Morris unit; Loews Corp.’s Lorillard Tobacco unit, which has a tracking stock, Carolina Group; Vector Group Ltd.’s Liggett Group; Reynolds American Inc.’s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco unit; and British American Tobacco Plc unit British American Tobacco Investments Ltd.

The tobacco companies deny they illegally conspired to promote smoking and say the government has no grounds to pursue them after they drastically overhauled marketing practices as part of a 1998 settlement with state attorneys general. 

RELATED STORIES:
Farming reform needed to end hunger without obesity   Australia seeks world backing on tobacco legal fight   Will you be misdiagnosed?—how diagnostic errors happen   Study: We May Be Less Happy, But Our Language Isn’t   Several Flu Shot Clinics Open This Week   New Health Chief sees changes in aid for poor   M. D. Anderson Offers Guidance on Choosing Tobacco Cessation Products   WHO backs findings on Tamiflu for seasonal flu   New sunscreen protects against both UVA and UVB rays   Kids see too many anti-impotence ads: doctors   Using science to save lives of mothers and children in Africa   Breastfeeding Program for Premature Babies Goes Online

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]