antitrust laws

$240 Billion Tobacco Deal Challenged in Supreme Court in S&M Brands v. Caldwell

by Hans Bader on February 25, 2011

in Health and Illness, Legal, Nanny State, Personal Liberty, Regulation

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Back in 1998, the states settled their lawsuits against the big tobacco companies in a deal called the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement — the biggest legal settlement in history. In exchange for state attorneys general dropping their lawsuits against the four biggest tobacco companies, tobacco companies agreed to pay the states more than $240 billion over the first 30 years of the agreement, and billions more annually in perpetuity. In addition, trial lawyers received over $15 billion (not million, billion).

But there was a catch: to get that money, the states would have to pass laws protecting the big tobacco companies against competition from smaller, newer companies that had never lied about the dangers of smoking, much less been sued for it. That would enable the big tobacco companies to raise prices in unison and pass them on to smokers. Essentially, the states became Big Tobacco’s partner in the cigarette business.

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Russia introduces strict new antitrust law

by Tatiana Kryzhanovskaya on July 29, 2009

in International, Legal, Odds & Ends, Regulation

Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev has signed into law amendments that will bring increased penalties for price collusion and unfair competition. The new amendments will allow the authorities to bring unscrupulous businessmen and bureaucrats to justice. Government officials will be subject to disqualification and sufficiently large fines if they will restrict the movement of goods across the country. Section 178 contains a very harsh sanction – up to six years imprisonment for committing a crime in the area of restriction of competition. This is unprecedented measure for Russia but it is unlikely to work because of corruption among bureaucrats at all levels of government.