Master Tobacco Settlement – (1998) $206 billion over 25 years
Written by Andrew Sarski on June 8, 2012
Each individual state filed a class action lawsuit against each of the top six tobacco companies in state court. The involved tobacco companies included R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Philip Morris Incorporated, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, Liggett & Meyers, Lorillard Tobacco Company, and Commonwealth Tobacco entered into a joint settlement intended to recover health care costs associated with smoking, covered by each state’s Medicaid and Medicare programs. The class action suits also sought to enforce laws intended to reduce smoking by individuals younger than 18.