1999 Bill Clinton - United States v. Phillip Morris

In September of 1999, the United States Justice department filed a lawsuit (United States v. Phillip Morris) against the major cigarette manufacturers for fraudulent and unlawful conduct and reimbursement of tobacco-related medical expenses.   The circuit court judge dismissed the reimbursement claims but allowed the Department of Justice under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.   The Department of Justice sued the tobacco companies on the grounds that they had engaged in a decades-long conspiracy on the following points.

1.  They misled the public about the risks of smoking.
2.  They misled the public about the risks of secondhand smoke.
3.  They misrepresented the addictiveness of nicotine.
4.  They manipulated the nicotine delivery of cigarettes.
5.  They had deceptive marketed "low tar" cigarettes as being less dangerous.
6.  They targeted the youth market.
7.  They did not produce safer cigarettes.

The case was held up in appeals court until 2009, when the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld most of the remedies ordered by lower courts, but denied additional remedies sought by the Department of Justice.  Included in this case was a $10 billion class action suit against Philip Morris.

In his 1999 state of the union address, President Clinton announced that the Department of Justice was "preparing a litigation plan to take the tobacco companies to court and, with the funds we recover, to strengthen Medicare."

"As everyone knows, our children are targets of a massive media campaign to hook them on cigarettes. Now, I ask this Congress to resist the tobacco lobby, to reaffirm the FDA's authority to protect our children from tobacco, and to hold tobacco companies accountable while protecting tobacco farmers.

Smoking has cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars under Medicare and other programs. You know, the States have been right about this: Taxpayers shouldn't pay for the cost of lung cancer, emphysema, and other smoking related illnesses; the tobacco companies should. So tonight I announce that the Justice Department is preparing a litigation plan to take the tobacco companies to court and, with the funds we recover, to strengthen Medicare."

References

Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2019). Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-before-joint-session-the-congress-the-state-the-union-6 [Accessed 15 Feb. 2019].

Publichealthlawcenter.org. (2019). United States v. Philip Morris (D.O.J. Lawsuit) | Public Health Law Center. [online] Available at: http://publichealthlawcenter.org/topics/tobacco-control/tobacco-control-litigation/united-states-v-philip-morris-doj-lawsuit [Accessed 15 Feb. 2019].