Tobacco Talks Hit a Snag Over Immunity From Future Suits

Additional talks aimed at a sweeping settlement of tobacco litigation were held in Chicago on Sunday and Monday, with the tobacco industry’s goal of getting immunity from future lawsuits emerging as the major sticking point, according to participants in the talks.

“I think the tobacco industry is trying to get too much too fast,” said a plaintiff’s lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They want a safe harbor, but I don’t there is any such thing as a safe harbor for them.”

The negotiations broke up at midday Monday to allow some of the state attorneys general and other lawyers to return to their homes for Passover, according to participants.

The talks were held at the offices of Kirkland & Ellis, a large law firm that represents Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. in cigarette litigation. The talks are expected to resume next week.

Representatives of Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds and Brown & Williamson all declined comment.

Mississippi Atty. Gen. Mike Moore continued to express optimism about a successful resolution. But the degree of opposition to granting immunity to industry seems to be increasing daily.

On Monday, two state attorneys general, Dan Morales of Texas and Hubert H. Humphrey III of Minnesota, said they would not accept any settlement that included provisions for legal immunity. “Texas will not be a party to any settlement” that grants the tobacco companies protection from future liability, Morales said.

Humphrey’s spokesman, Joe Loveland, said his boss felt the same way. “We wonder why anybody would give immunity to an industry with a 40-year rap sheet of lying to the American public,” Loveland said.

Along the same lines, both the American Heart and the American Lung associations issued statements expressing strong opposition to immunity.

Additionally, the Congressional Task Force on Tobacco and Health sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to members of the House of Representatives, in which Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) brands a settlement which includes immunity as a “Faustian bargain.”