Tobacco Settlement Made with Coupons

Source from:  earthtimes.org MILWAUKEE, Sept. 4 09/05/2007

The major U.S. manufacturer of smokeless tobacco has settled a Wisconsin class-action anti-trust lawsuit by agreeing to give consumers $816 in coupons. The settlement would allow those who qualify for the coupons to buy Copenhagen and Skoal smokeless tobacco at heavy discounts for years. But critics say that it also protects UST Inc.'s position as the largest company in the market, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. "The case was settled by selling out the consumer," said Gerald Thain of the Wisconsin-Madison Law School professor emeritus. "The effect of the settlement is that it will protect the position of UST in the smokeless tobacco market for the next 20 years." The lawyers who brought the case will get $17 million. The Wisconsin suit was one of several brought after Kentucky man sued UST, claiming that he had been paying too much because of the company's monopoly of the market. Enditem