Firms Settle Suit Over Cigarette Lighters

Cigarettes Cheaper and the Customer Co. have agreed to pay $225,000 to settle a suit that alleged the companies sold unsafe lighters at their stores.

The payment settles a suit brought against the companies by the Justice Department in federal court.

More than 27,000 lighters were sold at the tobacco stores. The lighters displayed labels indicating they contained a child-resistant safety mechanism. In fact, the lighters were not child-resistant.

Cigarettes Cheaper operates 718 stores in 26 states, including 224 in California. Both Cigarettes Cheaper and the Customer Co. are based in Benicia, Calif.

Cigarettes Cheaper said it chose to settle rather than go through a lengthy trial.