No settlement talks were underway on Monday, one day before a federal lawsuit seeking $280-billion from tobacco companies was set to open, United States Department of Justice officials said on Monday.
The case, which took five years to reach trial on Tuesday, alleges that the country’s largest tobacco companies manipulated nicotine levels, lied about the dangers of smoking, and targeted young teens with multibillion-dollar advertising campaigns.
In the suit, the first time the government put a dollar figure on damages sought from the industry, the prosecution wants the companies to hand over what it called illegal profits from 50 years of allegedly fraudulent and dangerous marketing practices.
The case used the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act (Rico), normally used to prosecute organised crime figures.
Three hundred witnesses will be presented by both sides, 100 of them scheduled to testify live in court. Each side will have 12 weeks to present its case, Department of Justice officials said in a background information briefing on Monday.
The trial will be held four days a week, five hours each day, with little time off for the end-of-year holidays, Justice Department officials said.
Government attorneys are confident they will win the case by showing there is a ‘reasonable likelihood’ that in the future the tobacco industry will carry out the same illegal activities they committed in the past, said a justice department official linked to the case.
The $280-billion figure is a ”conservative” amount based on what the tobacco industry earned directly, plus all profits earned from investments.
It is based on the estimated number of smokers that puffed away at five cigarettes a day and took up the habit as teens starting in 1953.
Altria, the parent company of tobacco giant Philip Morris USA and one of the seven defendants in the suit, said in a statement it was ”prepared for a full airing of the facts as they relate to the issues surrounding the government’s disgorgement claim” when a judge refused to dismiss the trial in May. – Sapa-AFP