Isles get $322K in settlement of tobacco suit
The state recently received $322,986 as part of a $55.4 million settlement reached with House of Prince A/S and Scandinavian Tobacco S.I.A. This settled a three-year court battle over whether cigarettes manufactured by Scandinavian Tobacco and sold from 1999 to 2003 in the United States were subject to the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, the Department of the Attorney General said in a news release.
Under that master settlement, tobacco makers agreed to pay states annually to compensate for health care costs associated with tobacco-related diseases under state Medicaid programs.
House of Prince is a participating manufacturer under the agreement, and Scandinavian Tobacco is an affiliated entity, the news release said.
California sued in February 2003 to force House of Prince to make Master Settlement Agreement payments for Scandinavian Tobacco's cigarettes. Since 2003, Scandinavian Tobacco cigarettes have not been sold in this country. House of Prince later signed a national agreement that included 46 states (including Hawaii), four territories, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.