The Circuit Court for Baltimore City ruled that tobacco companies cannot deduct potential damages from Baltimore City’s lawsuit over environmental harm caused by discarded cigarette filters from their annual payments to Maryland under the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA). The ruling followed a motion for summary judgment filed by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office, which intervened to protect the state’s settlement payments. The court found that the MSA does not cover Baltimore’s environmental claims. The companies, including Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., are therefore not entitled to offset any damages awarded to the city against payments owed to Maryland.
The decision allows Baltimore City’s lawsuit to proceed. It protects the state’s annual MSA payments, which help fund health care for people with smoking-related diseases and other public health programs. According to Brown’s office, the ruling is the first in the nation to address whether the MSA covers local government claims against tobacco companies for environmental damage caused by their products.
