City of New York v. Milhelm Attea & Bros., Inc., et al.
City of New York v. Milhelm Attea & Bros., Inc., et al., Slip Copy, 2012 WL 3579568 (E.D.N.Y.).
- United States
- Aug 17, 2012
- US District Court, Eastern District of New York
City of New York v. Milhelm Attea & Bros., Inc., et al., Slip Copy, 2012 WL 3579568 (E.D.N.Y.).
New York City sued a number of cigarette wholesalers for selling untaxed cigarettes to Native American reservation retailers who then re-sold the cigarettes to the public. The court found that two of the wholesalers violated the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act (CCTA) and are liable for civil penalties to be determined by the court. The claim against a third wholesaler was dismissed due to insufficient proof of illegal sales of unstamped cigarettes within New York City. On another issue, the court found that the City had failed to prove that the wholesalers intended to harm competition or evade taxes and therefore had not violated the state’s Cigarette Marketing Standards Act. Finally, the court deemed the City’s public nuisance claim to be withdrawn since the City agreed it would withdraw the nuisance claim if it prevailed on one of its other claims.