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U.S. Won't Ask Firms to Help Current Smokers Quit
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McCallum said he was not backing away from government expert Michael Fiore's estimate that it would cost $130 billion over 25 years to help 45 million Americans quit smoking.
"We do think Dr. Fiore's estimates are accurate. We disagree with the Court of Appeals," McCallum said. "We definitely care about helping American smokers quit . . . but the judges ruled against us."
McCallum said current smokers could apply for cessation benefits, but there would clearly be limits on how many.
Several legal experts said the government's new theory is too generous to the industry, because it concedes legal points that might be successfully argued. Some sources involved in the case think the government is trying to settle it by proposing lower penalties that it hopes the tobacco industry might accept. Government spokesmen have declined to comment on whether it is trying to settle the case.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, who will decide the case and whether to order penalties against the tobacco industry, has the power to reject government sanction recommendations and select measures she considers appropriate. The two sides could settle anytime before Kessler issues a ruling.
Dan Webb, lead tobacco attorney in the case, complained to Kessler that the government is recommending changes in penalties for the industry "too late in the game."
"The government keeps changing its remedies on a day-to-day basis," Webb said. "It's a moving target."
The defendants in the case are Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., Loews Corp.'s Lorillard Tobacco Co., British American Tobacco and Vector Group Ltd.'s Liggett Group.
