- Maryland AG Anthony Brown secured a court ruling preventing tobacco companies from reducing their annual payments to Maryland under the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) to offset potential damages from a separate lawsuit filed by Baltimore City. The ruling stems from Baltimore City’s lawsuit against tobacco manufacturers, alleging environmental damage caused by discarded cigarette filters.
- The tobacco companies had argued that the MSA allowed them to deduct any damages owed to Baltimore from their settlement payments to Maryland. The Maryland AG’s office intervened in the case, arguing that the environmental claims were unrelated to the public health issues covered by the settlement agreement. The court granted the state’s motion for summary judgment, finding that the MSA addresses youth smoking and smoking-related public health concerns, not environmental damage caused by discarded cigarette products.
- The decision prevents tobacco companies from offsetting potential damages awarded in Baltimore’s lawsuit against the payments owed to Maryland under the agreement. According to the AG, the ruling protects millions of dollars in annual state funding used to support healthcare for individuals with smoking-related illnesses and other public health programs, and it is the first of its kind nationally to address whether the 1998 MSA applies to local governments’ environmental claims against tobacco manufacturers.