WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department said Wednesday it will appeal a court decision barring it from pursuing $280 billion from tobacco companies in a civil racketeering lawsuit.
The government said it will ask the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to hear the case after a three-judge panel earlier this month said the government could not seek the money. Government lawyers hope to file the request soon, though they have until March 21 to do so, said Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller.
The government outlined its intentions in a brief ordered by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, who is presiding over the monthslong trial. She had asked the Justice Department to address the “scope and meaning” of the appeals court’s ruling earlier this month.
The 2-1 decision from the appeals court dealt a major blow to the government’s attempt to hold cigarette makers accountable for decades of alleged deceit about the dangers of smoking.
The panel decided that the 1970 civil racketeering statute under which the government filed its case required forward-looking remedies, which did not include “disgorgement,” or the pursuit of $280 billion the government claims the industry earned through fraudulent activities.
“Until the matter is ultimately resolved, the elimination of disgorgement as a remedy … forces the United States to substantially revise and alter its presentation,” the government wrote in Wednesday’s brief.
Anthony J. Sebok, a professor at Brooklyn Law School, said the government’s decision to appeal was not a surprise.
“It’s what they would be expected to ask for,” he said. “I think it’s pretty clear that they’ve suffered a severe setback.”
The Justice Department also addressed the penalties it will ask Kessler to impose on the industry. Those included requiring the industry to pay for large-scale smoking cessation programs, a public education campaign about the dangers of smoking and a long-term campaign to prevent youth smoking.
Depending on how these programs are structured, they could cost the industry tens of billions of dollars, said William V. Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
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