TOBACCO CONTROL LAWS

Guatemala v. The Tobacco Institute

Guatemala sued the tobacco industry for damages related to the cost of providing medical care for its citizens due to smoking-related illnesses. Guatemala claimed that it failed to adequately regulate the use of tobacco by its citizens because of the tobacco industry’s misrepresentations and anticompetitive behavior regarding the health impacts of tobacco. The court dismissed Guatemala’s case because any injury to Guatemala was too remote to have been directly caused by the tobacco industry. Instead, individual Guatemalan citizens could sue the tobacco industry because of their direct injuries caused by smoking. 

In re Tobacco/Governmental Health Care Costs Litigation (Republic of Guatemala v. The Tobacco Institute, Inc. et al), 83 F.Supp.2d 125 (D.C. Cir., 1999).

  • United States
  • Dec 30, 1999
  • US District Court, District of Columbia
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Parties

Plaintiff The Republic of Guatemala

Defendant

  • BAT Industries, PLC
  • British American Tobacco Co. Ltd./Batus Holdings, Inc.
  • Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.
  • Council for Tobacco Research-USA, Inc.
  • Liggett Group, Inc.
  • Philip Morris Inc.
  • The Tobacco Institute, Inc.

Legislation Cited

Related Documents

None

Type of Litigation

Health Care Cost Recovery
Governments or insurance agencies may seek reimbursement from the tobacco companies for health care costs related to tobacco. The most famous example is the case brought by individual states in the U.S.A. that resulted in the Master Settlement Agreement.

Tobacco Control Topics

Contents and Disclosures Measures
Measures for testing, measuring, regulating, or disclosing the contents and emissions of tobacco products. (See FCTC Arts. 9 and 10)
Cessation
Measures to promote cessation of tobacco use and adequate treatment for tobacco dependence. (See FCTC Art. 14)
Liability
Measures dealing with criminal and civil liability, including compensation. (See FCTC Art. 19)

Substantive Issues

Right to Health
A violation of the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health. Public health advocates may claim the public’s right to health is violated by weak tobacco control measures, industry tactics, or an organization’s or smokers’ actions.
Right to Access to Information
A violation of the public’s right to information. The tobacco industry may claim that advertising, promotion or sponsorship, or packaging regulations limit the industry’s ability to communicate information to their customers and therefore infringes on the customer’s right to receive information, and to distinguish one product from another. Alternatively, public health advocates may claim that tobacco industry misinformation violates their right to accurate information or that government must be transparent in its dealings with the tobacco industry.
Consumer Protection Violation

Any violation of a law designed to ensure fair trade, competition, or the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. For example, a government may require businesses to disclose detailed information about products—particularly in areas where safety or public health is an issue.

Industry-Perpetrated Fraud
The tobacco industry may have perpetrated a fraud upon the public or the courts by presenting false information or deliberately hiding known-facts.
Procedural Defect
The court might consider procedural matters without touching the merits of the case. These might include: improper joinder, when third parties, such as Health NGOs or government officials, seek to become parties to the suit; lack of standing, where a plaintiff fails to meet the minimum requirements to bring suit; lack of personal jurisdiction, where the court does not have jurisdiction to rule over the defendant; or lack of subject matter jurisdiction, where the court does not have jurisdiction over the issue at suit.

Type of Tobacco Product

None

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