TOBACCO

10 California Counties Join Suit: The counties have joined the city of San Francisco in suing major tobacco companies to try to recover the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses. In June, San Francisco became the first local government in the United States to sue the tobacco industry when it filed a complaint in U.S. District Court. Los Angeles County followed, filing its own separate lawsuit last month. This week, San Francisco’s suit was amended to add 10 counties and one more city in California. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. If successful, the tobacco companies--which include Brown & Williamson Corp.; American Tobacco Co. and its parent, BAT Industries; Philip Morris Cos.; and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.--could be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars. A Brown & Williamson spokesman said, “The addition of plaintiffs doesn’t add any more weight to the basic arguments in the case.” The 10 counties joining the suit are Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Shasta. A second lawsuit was filed in Superior Court and includes San Francisco, the 10 counties and the city of San Jose.