Settlements
Coupons Snuffed in $96M Tobacco Antitrust Case
Posted Oct 17, 2007, 07:52 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A California judge will be asked in a hearing today to approve a $96 million cash settlement of antitrust claims against the largest U.S. maker of smokeless tobacco products.
The case would be the first to produce a cash settlement in antitrust suits against U.S. Tobacco, the Recorder reports. Plaintiffs in Wisconsin, Kansas and Tennessee settled for coupons instead.
Chris Athanasia, an in-house lawyer for a U.S. Tobacco subsidiary, said the company agreed to a cash settlement after the plaintiffs and a mediator said a California judge would never approve a coupon deal.