» The Verdict Is In presents highlights from the landmark opinion
October 7, 2008
U.S. Supreme Court considers Altria v. Good
The tobacco company Altria Group is asking the high court to block a class action lawsuit by a group of Maine smokers who say they were misled by the company's labeling of cigarettes as "light" or "low tar," which caused those smokers to believe that these products were a safer alternative to regular cigarettes. Altria has said the case should not move forward, arguing that claims like these are preempted by the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 and by virtue of the Federal Trade Commission’s requirements on the manufacturers. Read more about this case. Read the U.S. Supreme Court transcript. PDF, 123 Kb
On October 23, 2007, the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium held an interactive public health law symposium entitled “Going Too Far? Exploring the Limits of Smoking Regulation” at William Mitchell College of Law, in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Tobacco Control Legal Consortium symposium proceedings were published in William Mitchell Law Review Vol. 34:4 (2008).
» Read the symposium proceedings.
The Tobacco Control Legal Consortium has filed an amicus brief in a significant U.S. Supreme Court case that could determine if consumers can sue tobacco companies under state law for false advertising of “light” cigarettes.
» Read more about this amicus brief.
Our latest law synopsis is an overview of smoke-free workplace policies that help fulfill an employer’s legal obligation to provide a safe workplace and protect employee health, while reducing the employer’s legal risk.
» Workplace Smoking: Options for Employees and Legal Risks for Employers PDF, 1.6 Mb
Leslie Zellers & Samantha K. Graff April 2008
The Tobacco Control Legal Consortium is a national network supporting tobacco control policy change by giving advocates better access to legal expertise. The Consortium’s priorities are to help make legal technical assistance an integral part of comprehensive tobacco control programs, provide a limited degree of direct legal support and raise awareness of the role of legal services in effective policy change. Within its resources, the Consortium works to assist communities with urgent legal needs and to increase the legal resources available to the tobacco control movement.
The Consortium grew out of collaboration among existing legal programs serving five states. Drawing on the expertise of these legal centers and others, the Consortium provides legal technical assistance to support the creation of new legal programs and to help communities with urgent legal needs. Technical assistance services may include help with legislative drafting, legal research, legal analysis and strategy, training and presentations, preparation of friend-of-the-court legal briefs and litigation support.
The Consortium’s coordinating center, located at the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, fields requests for information and coordinates the delivery of services by the collaborating legal resource centers.
The Consortium can be reached at tobaccolaw@wmitchell.edu or 651-290-7506.
Support for this program was provided in part by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey, and by the American Cancer Society.
