Spotlight: Billboard Firms Settle Suits on Tobacco Ads

Outdoor Systems Inc. and an Eller Media Co. unit have settled lawsuits accusing them of failing to comply with a state law banning tobacco advertisements near schools. Each agreed to post free anti-smoking messages for 250 “billboard months,” or the number of billboards involved multiplied by the number of months at each spot. The settlement ended a suit by San Francisco’s Center for Environmental Health to enforce the state law that took effect Jan. 1 barring tobacco ads within 1,000 feet of schools or playgrounds.