R.J. Reynolds Gets Smoked Over California Give-Away
R.J. Reynolds has agreed to pay $5 million to finally settle a lawsuit brought by the California Attorney general over the company’s practice of giving cigarette’s away at public events. Reduced from the $14.8 million dollar judgment originally awarded, the settlement means the parties avoid a costly appeal.
Federal law prohibits free distribution of cigarettes when it is done in federal buildings, but does not place bans on cigarette distribution in other locations. California health and safety law prohibits the giving of cigarettes on public property and private property open to the general public. Reynold’s lawyers argued that the six instances in which it gave away cigarettes (on pulic property) were not violative of Federal law, which has the exclusive right to regulate tobacco promotions, and that the California law was over-reaching. The California Supreme Court disagreed.
While acknowledging that Federal law regulated tobacco “promotions”, the Court found that Reynolds’ distribution of cigarettes in public places where minor were present, constituted a a health hazard and was therefore subject to state regulation based upon its health and safety laws.
Both state and Federal law contain exceptions to the tobacco give-away provision that do allow distribution of cigarettes in places where minors are not present (such as bars and nightclubs). In the Reynolds case, the company was handing out cigarettes and street fairs and auto shows, at which minors were allowed. Reynolds argued that the cigarettes were being handed out from a tent, that the tent was open only to people 21 years of age or older, and each recipient of the free cigarettes was required to prove (s)he was an existing smoker by producing a pack of cigarettes. Attorney General Bill Locker argued that such precautions were not sufficient to keep cigarettes out of the hands of minors and that, under California law, the entire event had to be off-limits to anyone under 21.