Volume 6, Fall 2000

Tobacco Lawsuit Set for Trial

CILS’ lawsuit against the tobacco industry is scheduled to go to trial in San Diego County Court in June 2001. Two named plaintiff Tribes, Redwood Valley Little River Band of Pomo Indians and Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe, are bringing this lawsuit as a class action on behalf of themselves and all federally recognized Tribes in California. The issue of class certification is scheduled to be decided this December. If the judge, Ronald Prager, certifies this lawsuit as a class action, it will proceed on behalf of all federally recognized California Tribes that do not opt out of the case.

The lawsuit alleges that the tobacco industry has committed unlawful, unfair and fraudulent business practices by targeting minors, concealing the addictiveness and harmfulness of tobacco products, knowingly disseminating misleading information about tobacco use and health, and manipulating the nicotine content and potency of tobacco products.

Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, a national firm with class action and tobacco litigation expertise, is working with CILS. In the first twenty months of this litigation, CILS and Milberg Weiss had a number of significant victories. The tobacco companies’ first attempt to dismiss the case was denied by the judge in July 1999. In October, Judge Prager denied the defendants’ motion for phased discovery which, if granted, would have allowed the defendants to conduct extensive discovery on class certification, including discovery of absent putative class members. In June 2000 Judge Prager ruled that the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the tobacco industry and the States does not bar the Tribes’ recovery under this lawsuit.

Since this latest ruling, CILS and Milberg Weiss have been busy with discovery, which will last through March 2001.