|
For
immediate release --September 29, 1998. |
The
Liggett Tobacco Company Pays Iowa $50,000
"We
never expected much money from Liggett, so it's nice to receive this
payment," Miller says. "It was a huge break-through when Liggett
agreed to turn over key documents and admit that tobacco is addictive
and causes cancer."
DES MOINES--
Attorney General Tom Miller announced today that the Liggett Group Inc.
-- the tobacco company that broke ranks last year and publicly admitted
that tobacco causes cancer and nicotine is addictive -- has paid Iowa
$50,000 as part of its settlement last year with states that are suing
the tobacco industry.
"We never expected much money from Liggett, so it's nice to receive
this payment," Miller said. He said Liggett has not made significant
profits and by comparison is a very small player in the industry, with
about two per cent of the market. In the settlement, Liggett agreed
to pay 25 per cent of pre-tax profits for twenty-five years. Liggett
is the maker of L&M, Chesterfield, Eve, Lark, and Pyramid cigarettes.
Miller said Liggett will make further payments if the company is profitable in the future. About thirty-five states are receiving payments from Liggett, in proportion to their share of Medicaid patients.
When Liggett settled in March 1997 with Iowa and other states suing the tobacco industry, the company agreed to provide extensive internal documents to the states and, as Miller put it, "essentially to turn states' evidence." Liggett President Bennett LeBow has testified in tobacco cases for the states. Miller called the Liggett settlement a turning point.
"It was a huge break-through when Liggett agreed to turn over key documents to the states and admit that tobacco causes cancer and other diseases, that nicotine is addictive, and that the tobacco industry has targeted children in its advertising campaigns," Miller said.