In 92 pages last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dug into one of the largest civil racketeering cases the Justice Department has ever brought, the mail and wire fraud suit against major cigarette manufacturers. The judgment on that judgment has been mixed.
The appeals court’s May 22 opinion in U.S. v. Philip Morris USA , largely upheld a landmark ruling against a group of tobacco companies for a decadeslong conspiracy to dupe consumers about the health effects of smoking. The government prevailed on the liability issue under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), and Deputy Attorney General David Ogden dubbed it “a victory for the American people.”
