Court Rules Tobacco Companies owe Farmers 2004 Payments

Source from:  triad.bizjournals.com 08/23/2005

The N.C. Supreme Court has ruled that cigarette companies must make some $424 million in payments they withheld from hundreds of thousands tobacco growers and quota owners last year after the $10 billion buyout of tobacco quotas last fall. After the buyout was signed into law in October, the tobacco companies claimed they didn't have to make payments for 2004 because they had already made payments into a trust fund designed to set aside money in case of a buyout. That trust fund was set up as part of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the major tobacco companies and attorneys-general from 46 states. The state Supreme Court decision returns the case to N.C. Business Court, in Greensboro, to be resolved. Both Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI), based in Winston-Salem, and Lorillard Tobacco Co. (NYSE: CG), in Greensboro, were involved in the dispute. Enditem