However, to prosecute a case of this magnitude against a multibillion dollar industry, would cost the taxpayers literally millions in up-front legal expenses. If the lawsuit succeeds, the state will recover monetary damages, and the outside counsel would receive a limited portion of those damages as compensation. If the lawsuit fails, outside counsel would receive no compensation at all. In a legal victory for Pennsylvania, taxpayers stand to gain perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars that have been annually drained from their pockets to pay for the medical treatment necessitated by illnesses caused by the tobacco cartel. Tobacco companies themselves pay very little to the state in taxes.
Distributors pay state excise taxes, which are passed along to consumers.
Consumers also pay state sales taxes when they purchase tobacco products. Tobacco is the only product we know of that when used precisely as the manufacturer intends, causes addiction, disease and death. It is focused on a decades-long pattern of illegal, conspiratorial acts by the tobacco cartel. Liggett is a named defendant in this lawsuit along with the other members of the tobacco cartel. Attorney General Fisher personally ensured that the Liggett settlement agreement other states reached with Liggett contained a six-month window in which Pennsylvania could sign onto the agreement and receive all the benefits the other states have received.