High Court Rejects Appeal of Settlement
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider arguments that the $206-billion nationwide tobacco settlement violates antitrust laws by letting cigarette makers jack up prices in concert.
The justices, without comment, turned aside an appeal by two wholesalers opposed to the 1998 accord between tobacco companies and 46 states. The wholesalers sought to revive a suit against Philip Morris Cos., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. and British American Tobacco’s Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.
Federal courts have uniformly rejected antitrust objections to the landmark settlement, concluding that tobacco companies are immune from suits stemming from the deal they hammered out with state attorneys general.
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