In outlining its position, the government has said the cigarette companies "have engaged in and executed -- and continue to engage in and execute -- a massive 50-year scheme to defraud the public."
As examples of the fraud, government lawyers will try to prove that the cigarette companies denied that nicotine was addictive even though they knew it was, that the companies promoted "light" cigarettes as safer than traditional brands despite knowing that they were not, and that the companies continue to deny the extent of the harm from second-hand smoke.
In addition, the government will try to portray the work of the Tobacco Institute and the Council for Tobacco Research as a public relations campaign to deny the harms of smoking. Both organizations have been disbanded, but the government will try to prove that the damage they created lives on.
In response, the tobacco companies have argued that whatever happened in the past, the industry has changed its ways and now accepts many of the public health community's assessments regarding tobacco. Industry lawyers argue that under the civil RICO statute, the government will have to prove that the cigarette makers intend to continue the alleged fraud -- a test they say cannot be met.
"The company made mistakes in the past, but that doesn't mean there was any fraud," Ohlemeyer said. "The government's case is wrong on the facts and wrong on the law."
All of these issues have been raised in earlier tobacco lawsuits, and it remains unclear how much new material and testimony will be presented at the federal trial. But Justice Department officials have suggested that significant new revelations will come.
Soon after taking office, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft spoke disparagingly about the government's case, and it was revealed that the government held talks with the industry about settling out of court. But those administration positions were roundly criticized by many state attorneys general, among others, and the case proceeded, and, to some, became even more important.
"Not only is this a case for large monetary awards and with the potential for modifying the industry's behavior, but the fact that it is being done under an administration normally seen as pro-business is stunning to a lot of people" on Wall Street, said Mary Aronson, a Washington litigation analyst who follows the tobacco industry. "The tobacco industry was beaten up continually during the '90s, and so it became politically difficult to drop it."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that cigarette smoking claims more than 440,000 lives a year -- the single greatest cause of preventable death in the nation. Cheryl Healton, president of the American Legacy Foundation, which uses tobacco funds from the 1998 master settlement to advertise against smoking, said the government lawsuit represents an "unprecedented opportunity" to impose changes on the industry that can work to bring the death toll down.
