Appeals Court Won’t Review Ruling on Tobacco Penalty

An appeals court won’t reconsider its decision barring the Justice Department from seeking $280 billion in a lawsuit against cigarette companies.

In a vote Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit divided 3 to 3 on whether to reconsider the case, according to a Justice Department spokesman.

Officials said the government had not decided whether to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

“The United States will carefully review its options and make a determination in the near future as to what course of action it will pursue,” said Associate Atty. Gen. Robert D. McCallum Jr.

In the case, filed in 1999 under a federal racketeering statute, the government alleges that cigarette makers conspired for decades to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking. A trial began in U.S. District Court in September and is ongoing.

The Justice Department last month asked the full court to reconsider a panel’s 2-1 decision that the government could not seek the huge penalty. The panel decided the government was limited to “forward-looking” remedies and that disgorgement -- or the seeking of money allegedly earned through fraudulent means -- was not one.

Representatives of the cigarette companies did not return phone calls or had no comment.