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Florida charges tobacco firms
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November 6, 1996: 8:11 a.m. ET
State hopes to win $6 billion in criminal sanctions from 17 companies
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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CNN) -- The state of Florida has filed racketeering charges against the tobacco industry, hoping to win $6 billion in criminal sanctions against 17 companies.
A revised complaint filed on behalf of the governor by Attorney General Bob Butterworth supersedes one already filed as part of a lawsuit initiated by by Butterworth last year.
The new charges were filed Monday in state civil court in West Palm Beach.
The complaint initially was designed to recover an estimated $2 billion spent on Medicaid treatment of cancer patients who used tobacco products.
According to attorney W.C. Gentry of Jacksonville, the use of Florida's Racketer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act allows the state to ask the court for three times the amount of damages it would otherwise be entitled to, or in this instance, up to $6 billion if the state is able to prove its case.
Gentry said to the best of his knowledge, it's the first time a state has filed racketeering charges against the tobacco industry.
He added Florida intends to prove that the defendants engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise as defined by Florida's anti-racketeering laws.
The charges are being leveled against 17 companies, accusing them of violating several Florida statutes, including the Florida Drug and Cosmetic Act, Illegal Targeting of Minors and statutes regulating unfair and deceptive trade practices.
The amended complaint accuses the tobacco industry of engaging "in a scheme to wrongfully and illegally sell their products in Florida, defraud and deceive the public and state and federal agencies ... to continue their profit-motivated enterprise."
The lawsuit goes on to charge the defendants with causing the state of Florida to spend $2 billion in medical costs "as a result of fraudulent, wrongful and criminal activities."
The defendants include The American Tobacco Company, American Brands Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., B.A.T. Industries PLC, British American Tobacco Co., Ltd., Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corp., Phillip Morris Cos. Inc., the Liggett Group, Loews Corp., the United States Tobacco Co., the Tobacco Institute, Hill and Knowlton Inc. and the Dosal Tobacco Corporation.
The trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 4, 1997.
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American Brands
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