Legacy Vies For Billions From Tobacco Lawsuit

A pot of money—at least $10 billion over 5 years—could become available for a national antismoking campaign, should the judge in the Department of Justice's lawsuit against several tobacco companies rule in favor of the government.The American Legacy Foundation, which runs the "Truth" antismoking campaign, wants the cash and, with the help of its friends, has been angling to get it. Legacy CEO Cheryl Healton testified in the case, and Legacy's supporters have been petitioning District Court Judge Gladys Kessler with briefs on Legacy's behalf. In fact, the government has proposed that, should Kessler find the defendants in the case—which include Philip Morris and its parent company Altria; R.J. Reynolds; Brown & Williamson; Lorillard; British American Tobacco; and Liggett—guilty of civil racketeering fraud, a group like Legacy should be the recipient of any funds.Such a windfall would solve Legacy's financial woes. The tobacco industry stopped paying Legacy to run its public education effort in 2003 under the terms of the Master Settlement Agreement, which created Legacy and the campaign. By 2009, Legacy, which once spent more than $110 million on its "Truth" campaign, will not have enough money to spend on the ads.But convincing the judge may not be easy. During closing arguments on June 7, Kessler criticized the proposal to give Legacy the money. "I question whether the record supports the effectiveness of the ALF campaign," she said. "I hope you're not suggesting that I should choose" who should run the campaign, she told the government's lawyers.Healton declined to comment, on the advice of Legacy's attorney. But in her testimony in the case, she argued, "We are far and away the major force counteracting the more than $12.4 billion that the tobacco industry spent in 2002 on marketing its products in the United States, as reported by the Federal Trade Commission."Healton's supporters, like the Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth, a group of former U.S. secretaries of health, former surgeons general and former directors of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose mission is to ensure that the "Truth" campaign continues, filed a friend of the court brief on Legacy's behalf."What makes Legacy attractive is they have demonstrated that they have produced the most effective program to discourage kids," said Joseph Califano, chairman of the Citizens' Commission and former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Getting judges to award damage claims from tobacco cases to Legacy has become a key strategy for the commission. Califano's commission has become the conduit for making such requests. Califano's group has also asked that Legacy be given any settlement funds in a tobacco case currently before the Illinois Supreme Court.A study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Public Health, which concluded that campaigns like "Truth" can reduce teen smoking, was submitted as part of the commission's brief. Legacy paid for the study, and Healton and another Legacy staffer were co-authors."Their heavy-handed advocacy colors the success of their program," said one critic. "In studies like this, you want to keep your interest more at arm's length." A Legacy rep said that, under the MSA, the group is required to evaluate its "Truth" campaign. "The issue is not who funded the study, but the efficacy of how it was done," he said.

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Legacy Vies For Billions From Tobacco Lawsuit

Wendy Melillo

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