United States Fourth Circuit

Va. Code Ann. SS 3.1-336.1 and 3.1-336.2, enacted pursuant to the Master Settlement Agreement with tobacco companies for smoking-related illnesses, does not violate the Due Process rights of tobacco companies that did not participate in the settlement by forcing them to pay into the settlement fund.

Appellate Information

• Argued 11/01/2001
• Decided 01/22/2002
• Published 01/22/2002

Judges

• Before NIEMEYER, WILLIAMS, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Charles Fried, Cambridge, Massachusetts, for Appellant.   Gregory E. Lucyk, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.   ON BRIEF:  Patrick M. McSweeney, Kathleen Moriarty Mueller, John L. Marshall, Jr., McSweeney & Crump, P.C., Richmond, Virginia;  James F. Neal, James G. Thomas, W. David Bridgers, Neal & Harwell, P.L.C., Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellant.  Randolph A. Beales, Attorney General of Virginia, Francis S. Ferguson, Chief Deputy Attorney General, J. Steven Sheppard, III, Senior Assistant Attorney General, David B. Irvin, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Sydney E. Rab, Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.  William M. Hohengarten, Julie M. Carpenter, Janis C. Kestenbaum, Jenner & Block, L.L.C., Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae DKT Liberty Project.  Bill Lockyer, Attorney General of the State of California, Richard M. Frank, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Dennis Eckhart, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Karen Leaf, Deputy Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Sacramento, California, for Amici Curiae States.  Ellen J. Vargyas, American Legacy Foundation, Washington, D.C.;  Jonathan E. Nuechterlein, Jonathan J. Frankel, Mary E. Kostel, C. Colin Rushing, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, Washington, D.C., for Amici Curiae Foundation, et al.