Government lawyers and attorneys for a group of tobacco companies met Wednesday to discuss how to implement a sweeping injunction lodged against the industry in 2006 by a federal judge who found the companies conspired for decades to conceal the health risks of smoking.
The brief status hearing marked the first time in more than two years that the attorneys for both sides appeared in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The government’s case against the tobacco companies — including Philip Morris USA (whose parent company is Altria Group) and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. — has been held up in appellate courts since the injunction was issued.
