Rio Sues U.S. Tobacco Companies (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Rio Sues U.S. Tobacco Companies
by Alex Duff Associated Press Writer 

Tuesday, July 13, 1999;  9:59 p.m. EDT

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- Rio state government announced Tuesday it
has begun a lawsuit against U.S. tobacco firms in a bid to recover the
public health care costs of treating sick smokers.

The lawsuit, the first of it kind by a Brazilian authority, was launched
by four Texas lawyers acting for the state, said government lawyer Jose
Calisto Ushoa Ribeiro. On Tuesday, the four filed papers in a U.S. court.

Ribeiro declined to immediately name the state, ``for strategic reasons.''

``The lawsuit will be against all the American tobacco companies who,
either directly or indirectly, have caused the government of Rio to incur
costs in public health care,'' Ribeiro said at a news conference. He named
15 firms involved including Philip Morris and RJR Nabisco.

The lawsuit would likely be for billions of dollars, said Ribeiro. The
state would begin to calculate the cost of treating cancer patients and
those with smoking-related illnesses over ``the last 20 or 30 years.''

The Texan lawyers -- W. Mark Lanier, Charles Siegel, Vaughan O. Stewart
and Henry Saint Dahl -- will pay all costs and receive a percentage of any
damages received, he said.

In a radio interview, Rio governor Anthony Garotinho said he hoped to
negotiate a settlement and expected the state to receive $10 billion in
reimbursements.

Last year, Brazil's Health Minister Jose Serra met with U.S. lawyers to
discuss a possible lawsuit by the federal government against U.S. tobacco
companies. He has not announced plans to begin legal action.