Tobacco companies seek to pay $300bn as lawsuit settlement

A dynamic model of lawsuit joinder and settlement

Suppose that victim j employs a bandwagon strategy {δ, δ&j}. We will characterize victim i’s best response, beginning with period 2. If victim i filed suit in period 1, then he has no further action to take. Suppose that victim i did not file suit in period 1. If victim j filed suit in period 1, then victim j has no further action to take and nothing will change in the future; thus victim i wil...

Tobacco settlement seen as opportunity lost to curb cigarette use.

Tobacco settlement dollars are increasingly being used by states to shore up eroding budgets instead of for the purposes they were intended—to offset tobacco-related health care costs and institute tobacco control programs. Congress's investigative body, the General Accounting Office (GAO), reported in March that the 46 states party to the 1998 $206 billion Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) spe...

The Tobacco Settlement, as Refracted through the Economics of Litigation

Thwarting tobacco companies.

Considering the enormous harm tobacco products cause among their most loyal consumers, it is astounding and repugnant that tobacco product manufacturers continue to operate as fabulously profitable enterprises. These companies have used layer upon layer of defense and counter-offense to protect profits from effective public health measures for more than a generation (1 -3). Slowly, however, pro...

Tobacco industry statements in the US Department of Justice lawsuit.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Over the last half century, the tobacco industry has earned billions of dollars in profits by selling a deadly and addictive product while denying its harmfulness. As criticism of the industry has accelerated in recent years, and calls for product regulation have grown, tobacco companies have defended themselves by saying they are now “responsible” corporations that aim to com...