BOSTON – The office of Massaschusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced it has reached a $600 million settlement with major tobacco manufacturers. The companies will make additional payments of tens of millions of dollars each year in the future, according to the AG’s office.The dispute arose after manufacturers who are parties to the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) withheld the funds doe to an adjustment in the contract. The dispute forced millions in dispute into arbitration.
The settlement resolves seven past annual disputes. According to the AG’s office, the agreement should also increase the speed of resolving future disputes.
“The country’s major tobacco manufacturers have pushed smoking products to young people for decades – and this settlement is evidence of our ongoing commitment to hold these companies accountable for their actions that caused irreparable harm to public health and safety,” said Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell.
In the MSA, 52 U.S. states and territories agreed with the four largest tobacco manufacturers to settle dozens of state lawsuits related to health care costs to treat smoking-related illness. Four states, Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Texas, did not join the agreement as they had reached settlements with the companies prior to the MSA.
Massachusetts collected over $257 million in MSA payments in 2023. Since the agreement went into place in 1998, Massachusetts has collected over $6 billion through 2023. In fiscal year 2023, the state budget allocated to $6.1 million for its tobacco prevention programs. That equals just 9.2 percent of funding recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Just 13 states spend a lower percentage of CDC recommendations than Massachusetts.
The companies included in the settlement are:
- Philip Morris USA Inc
- RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company
- Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company
- Farmers Tobacco Co. of Cynthiana
- Wind River Tobacco Company, LLC
- Commonwealth Brands, LLC,
- Compania Industrial de Tabacos Monte Paz, S.A.
- Daughters & Ryan, Inc.
- Japan Tobacco International U.S.A., Inc.
- King Maker Marketing, Inc.
- Kretek International
- Scandinavian Tobacco Group Lane Ltd.
- Liggett Group LLC
- ITG Brands, LLC
- Peter Stokkebye Tobaksfabrik A/S
- Premier Manufacturing, Inc.
- P.T. Djarum
- Reemtsma Cigarettenfacbriken Gmbh (Germany)
- Top Tobacco, L.P.
- U.S. Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers, Inc.
- Vector Tobacco LLC
- Von Eicken Group
