United States

In 1999, the United States filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the major cigarette manufacturers and related trade organizations alleging that defendants, while acting as an enterprise, fraudulently misled American consumers for decades about the risks and dangers of cigarette smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke in violation of the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). In 2006, the court found that defendants violated civil provisions of RICO and that there was a reasonable likelihood that defendants would continue to violate RICO in the future. On appeal, the district court’s findings were upheld, in part, vacated, in part, and remanded, in part, to the district court. After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear appeals from both sides in the case in June 2010, the district court began to implement the 2006 final order.

The Court granted the Plaintiff's Motion to Amend the Court’s Final Order due to an inconsistency between Order #1015 and the Court's Final Order.  The Court ruled that it would require Defendants to disclose various documents on publicly accessible websites and at document depositories for a period of 15 years; however, the Final Order extends that period only until 2016, rather than 2021.  The Court amended the order to require disclosure until 2021.