Maryland Tobacco Farmers Receive $13 Million Settlement

Source from:  tfq.itsmyiq.com Aug 21, 2007 08/22/2007

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced Monday that the state's tobacco farmers received a $13 million settlement resulting from an agreement reached in the wake of the 1998 case against the nation's largest tobacco companies. The story was reported in the Baltimore Sun. "This decision protects our farmers from the tobacco companies' efforts to deny them the benefits bargained for in the trust agreement," Gansler said. That trust agreement was formulated to ensure that farmers affected by the settlement against Philip Morris, USA, Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and others would be compensated for their losses. Pennsylvania's farmers also received a $9 million settlement to be paid out through 2010. A news release from Mr. Gansler's office said the tobacco companies maintained they did not have to make payments to Maryland and Pennsylvania after passage of the federal Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act in 2004. That law provided for payments to farmers in other tobacco-growing states, but not Maryland and Pennsylvania; those two states took action in a North Carolina court after the companies stopped making payments. "We applaud the North Carolina court ruling in the challenge to get the tobacco companies to live up to their agreement with Maryland farmers," Maryland Agriculture Secretary Roger Richardson said in the statement. "This is an important first step to ensure Maryland farmers will receive payments under the National Tobacco Grower Settlement Trust." Enditem