Tobacco firm to pay Utah $238,745

A tobacco manufacturer has paid Utah $238,745 under a settlement of several lawsuits that resolves a three-year legal fight over financial payments that were supposed to be made to cover health care costs associated with tobacco-related diseases.

The House of Prince, which manufactures Scandinavian Tobacco, will pay a total of nearly $54 million to settle a variety of lawsuits filed by 46 states for noncompliance with the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA).

The MSA is intended to help pay for health care stemming from tobacco-related illnesses. It also helps fund stop-smoking programs and provides restrictions on advertising and marketing cigarettes.

The MSA ultimately will result in all major tobacco companies paying $206 billion to the states over a 25-year period. Utah's share of that will be about $1 billion. Major tobacco manufacturers also must be responsible for cigarettes they make for other firms.

The House of Prince is part of the MSA but had not been making payments for cigarettes that were manufactured for a nonparticipating company that were sold in the United States between 1999 and 2003.

"Tobacco companies can pay what they owe now or pay more later — but the Attorney General's Office is going to make sure all tobacco companies pay everything due to Utah," Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said in a statement Wednesday.

"We're very happy we could reach a settlement and didn't have to pursue any more litigation and incur more expenses by the state," said Kathy Kinsman, the assistant attorney general who represents Utah in tobacco-related litigation. "We think it's the correct conclusion that participating manufacturers have to be responsible for all the products they manufacture.

"The money is essentially what has been owed to the states if the House of Prince had been complying with its obligations," Kinsman said.

The MSA is a public health agreement that was negotiated by 46 states, six U.S. territories and possessions, and the large tobacco manufacturers. (Four states arranged for their own settlements.)

Various states had previously launched lawsuits against the manufacturers to get them to help pay for health care costs associated with tobacco products. Ultimately, the manufacturers agreed to take part in the MSA.

The MSA applies to cigarettes and roll-your-own loose tobacco but does not cover cigars or little cigars. The "smokeless tobacco" products such as chewing tobacco and snuff are covered by a different master settlement agreement.

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