Judge Seeks Settlement in Tobacco Cases

An ambitious proposal by a federal judge in Brooklyn to seek a global settlement of tobacco litigation drew a skeptical response Wednesday from industry lawyers, who described the chances of success as extremely remote.

Saying that “the time for bringing a close to tobacco litigation is nigh,” U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein unexpectedly ordered settlement talks between plaintiff and defense attorneys in six big tobacco cases pending before him.

In his three-page order issued Tuesday, Weinstein said the U.S. Department of Justice, which has sued cigarette makers to recover federal health-care expenses, will be invited to take part in the talks. He also suggested that one of the pending cases be broadened, for settlement purposes, into a nationwide class-action on behalf of all injured smokers.

“If he [Weinstein] orders a settlement conference . . . obviously we would have to attend, and then we could tell him . . . no, we’re not going to settle,” said Charles A. Blixt, general counsel for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

The lawsuits pending in Brooklyn include five cost recovery claims, including one filed by 20 Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans seeking billions of dollars in reimbursement for smoking-related health-care costs.

The other cost recovery cases were filed by a group of labor union health-care funds and by three funds created to compensate asbestos workers for injuries the suits claim were caused by smoking as well as asbestos exposure.

The last of the suits covered by Weinstein’s order seeks class certification for all smokers who contracted lung cancer.

Cigarette makers have been bolstered by rulings from five federal appeals courts dismissing lawsuits, such as those before Weinstein, that involve third parties paying health- care costs for thousands of individual smokers. One of those panels, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, sits over Weinstein’s court.

Even if “everybody was inclined to do it,” said William S. Ohlemeyer, associate general counsel for Philip Morris, a settlement “would face some tremendous legal and practical obstacles.”

The industry is unlikely to settle, said Martin Feldman, an analyst with Salomon Smith Barney, “when they’ve essentially won every other claim of this category.”

But Vincent Fitzpatrick, attorney for the Blue Cross plans, said something may come of the talks. Weinstein has “made a career of doing these grand settlements,” he said. “If anybody can do it, he can.”