Posted on 02/04/2005 1:31:12 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants
A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that the Justice Department cannot force cigarette makers to pay up to $280 billion in past profits as part of its racketeering case against the industry.
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled 2-1 that federal law does not provide for the monetary "disgorgement" penalty the government is seeking as part of the case that went to trial in September.
"We hold that the language of [the racketeering law] and the comprehensive remedial scheme of [the racketeering law] preclude disgorgement as a possible remedy in this case," the opinion of the majority said.
The decision strips the government of its most powerful weapon in the case.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I've never smoked and I agree totally with this decision. Along with some of the good recent state supreme court decisions on the firearms liability suits, this gives a small indication that some courts may be backing off from the idea of legislating from the bench. We need more strict constructionist judges. This decision is good for the whole economy and bodes ill for the obesity suits currently being filed against the food industry. If they can nail McDonald's, there's no legal barrier to them running any local restaurant out of business they may want to.
Next the entire beef industry. Next Budweiser. Next General Motors, Ford, Chrysler. I guess we need Big Brother looking out for us.
WOO-HOO!
lawyers-on-the-window-ledge bump!!!
It's worse than that; they wanted every penny the tobacco companies ever took in (before expenses, taxes, et al), and then some.
This would have put the tobacco companies out of business and ended the nonsmokers tax reduction act of the century.
If I were the tobacco companies, I would simply declare bankrupcy, move all tne machinery and operations out of country and refuse to ever do business in the U.S. again. Congress would probably try to pass a law making it illegal for them to declare bankrupcy or quite doing business in the U.S. Shades of "Atlas Shrugged" would do wonders to slap some sense into them.
Or maybe it wouldn't.
That's right, forgot about that. When I still smoked cigarettes I did that for awhile too...
Good news indeed.
very related:
Senate committee passes tort reform bill
THE WASHINGTON TIMES ^ | February 4, 2005 | Charles Hurt
Posted on 02/04/2005 9:46:09 AM PST by neverdem
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1336004/posts
I'll have to ask my father about the specific amount, but I think that the excise taxes-three of them, if you happen to live in the five boroughs-are pushing the total price of a box of cigarettes to nearly ten dollars a pop.
That's insane.
$100 dollars for 10 packs? That's over the top!
I believe, at least in Manhattan, a pack of cigs tops $8........granted it's cheaper buying by the carton - but still.........that's utterly insane.
Fortunately, their efforts have been unsuccessful-thus far-but expect them to continue trying to pilfer money from the pockets of working class citizens.
Pataki has been trying to abrogate Indian sovereignty treaties in order to fund more dubious boondoggles-admittedly, the idiotic school funding scheme was imposed upon him by judicial fiat-that the state legislature has been demanding.
The only reason they are doing this is because smokers are an easy target, and they don't have the gumption to make actual cuts in government spending directed at bloated, inefficient social programs and the public sector, almost exclusively unionized, bureaucracy.
When they are too gutless to cut spending, they stick it to the smokers and claim it's for their own good.
You're preaching to the choir.
When I left NYC in 1982, I had all intentions of returning........I'm now so thankful my life took me in another direction.
They're not too gutless to cut spending - they don't know how.
Governments are the addicts, not smokers. and that has nothing to do with tobacco tax revenues - it's just fact across the board.
I mean, haven't these public officials ever heard of...THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE???!!!
-good times, G.J.P.(Jr.)
ROFLMPJO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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