Tobacco Lawyer Hits Judge for Copying U.S. Arguments—Including Typos

Appellate Practice

Tobacco Lawyer Hits Judge for Copying U.S. Arguments—Including Typos

Posted Oct 14, 2008, 08:16 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

A tobacco lawyer claims in an appellate brief that a federal judge who ordered cigarette makers to stop using “light” descriptions for cigarettes copied government language in her 2006 opinion—including two of its typographical errors.

Arnold & Porter partner David Eggert claims in his brief that U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler “reproduced large sections of the government’s proposed findings verbatim, complete with the government’s typographical errors,” reports The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times. “Indeed, over 80 percent of the court’s findings were simply copied from the government’s proposed findings.”

Eggert used plagiarism-detecting software called “WCopyfind” to compare Kessler’s decision to the government’s proposed findings, the blog says.

The appeal is being argued today before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, but it’s not known if Eggert’s point will be raised, according to the story. Cigarette makers are challenging Kessler’s finding that they conspired to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking.

Kessler ruled the companies violated racketeering laws but that she had no authority to order them to pay billions of dollars in damages sought by the government, the Associated Press reports.

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