Tobacco Industry Seeks to Settle Texas Lawsuit, Report Says
The nation’s biggest tobacco companies have proposed talks aimed at settling a $14-billion Medicaid lawsuit filed by the state of Texas, according to a newspaper report Saturday.
The Dallas Morning News said national industry attorneys had approached Texas state officials but added that the talks were in “the infancy stage” and that lawyers preparing for the trial in a Texarkana federal courthouse said they were unaware of them.
The industry this summer settled Medicaid lawsuits with Florida for $11.3 billion and Mississippi for $3.36 billion. But officials had pledged to take a stand in Texas because they believed it was an easier case to win and would help it pressure Congress into approving a stalled $368.5-billion national settlement plan.
On Friday, the industry settled a secondhand smoke trial filed by 60,000 flight attendants in Florida by agreeing to fund a $300-million research foundation and pay $46 million in attorneys’ fees.
The paper cited unidentified attorneys as saying the industry last week contacted Texas through national lawyers for Philip Morris Cos. and R.J. Reynolds.
Dan Webb, the tobacco companies’ lead attorney in the Texas case, said he was unaware of any talks.
Neither side could be reached for comment Saturday.
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