Nicaragua and Brazil Sue Tobacco Companies

December 12, 1998 - 0:0
MIAMI Less than a month after the tobacco companies settled health claims with the states, the government of Nicaragua sued the cigarette makers on Thursday to recoup the cost of treating sick smokers, and Brazil said it would do the same. The Nicaraguan lawsuit was filed in U.S. district court in Puerto Rico against 11 tobacco manufacturers, distributors and related organizations.

It did not specify how much money was being sought, but a lawyer representing the Central American nation said it had spent hundreds of millions of dollars treating smoking-related illnesses. Brazilian newspapers quoted officials at that country's Health Ministry as saying Brazil's government would seek to recoup about $33 billion. About 27 percent of Nicaragua's 4.5 million people smoke cigarettes, and the defendants named in the suit control 100 percent of Nicaragua's cigarette market, the attorneys who filed the lawsuit said at a news conference in Miami. The suit accuses the defendants of violating U.S. racketeering laws and antitrust laws by conspiring to hide the dangers of smoking.

Philip Morris released a statement saying it would vigorously defend against legal actions it described as copycat lawsuits and predicting the suits would fail. Nicaragua is the second Central American country to sue the cigarette makers. Last May the Guatemalan government filed a similar lawsuit in Washington seeking about $300 million. The lawyers who filed the Nicaraguan and Guatemalan suits compared the effects of smoking to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Mitch, which killed at least 9,000 people in Central America last month.

One of the lawyers, George Fleming, cited World Health Organization projections that smoking would kill 400,000 people annually in Central America by the year 2020 the equivalent of a Hurricane Mitch three times a month every month. Brazil's plans for a lawsuit were announced by a Health Ministry spokesman. Brazilian newspapers said the government was in contact with U.S. law firms about filing suit.

Guatemalan Attorney General Carlos Garcia Regas said his country had begun some very preliminary discussions about a potential settlement with Liggett, one of the defendants in its suit. He said he expected the Washington federal court to rule in February that Guatemala's lawsuit could proceed to trial. At any point during that process, Guatemala is ready to sit down with the tobacco industry and discuss an agreement, Garcia Regas said.

(Reuter)