The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to consider at an Oct. 14 conference whether to hear the government's appeal to reinstate a potential $280 billion penalty against cigarette makers, Reuters said quoting a posting on the court's Web site Thursday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in February barred the government from seeking past tobacco profits as a legal remedy for decades of alleged fraud by the tobacco industry. The decision took away the government's biggest weapon in the landmark case. The U.S. Justice Department lodged its Supreme Court appeal in July. The Supreme Court could announce whether it will hear the appeal as early as Oct. 17, although the justices could take more time to consider whether to take the case. A nearly nine-month trial in lower court ended in June. It is not known when U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler will rule on whether cigarette makers broke the law. Targeted in the lawsuit are Altria Group Inc. and its Philip Morris USA unit; Loews Corp.'s Lorillard Tobacco unit, which has a tracking stock, Carolina Group; Vector Group Ltd.'s Liggett Group; Reynolds American Inc.'s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco unit and British American Tobacco Plc unit British American Tobacco Investments Ltd. The companies deny they illegally conspired to promote smoking and say the government has no grounds to pursue them after they drastically overhauled marketing practices as part of a 1998 settlement with state attorneys general.
