Career Department of Justice attorneys were worried that a decision to seek lower penalties against tobacco companies would be seen as a purely political move in a newly disclosed memo reported by The New York Times.

In a May 30 memo, Sharon Y. Eubanks and Stephen D. Brody, the two trial lawyers handling the case, voiced concerns to Associate Attorney General Robert D. McCallum, a Bush administration appointee who worked for a tobacco company. "We do not want politics to be perceived as the underlying motivation, and that is certainly a risk if we make adjustments in our remedies presentation that are not based on evidence," the lawyers wrote, according to The Times.

But McCallum, who also works on the Cobell v. Norton trust fund case, and other top political officials overrode the concerns. In a widely criticized move, the officials dropped potential penalties from the tobacco industry from $130 billion to $10 billion.

They also said the money could only be used to stop future smoking, not address efforts to stop smoking about current users. They said the decision was based on a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling but the trial lawyers disagreed.

Eubanks has since been given a lesser role in the case, according to another memo reviewed by The Times.

Get the Story:
Lawyers Fought U.S. Move to Curb Tobacco Penalty (The New York Times 6/16)
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Relevant Links:
Tobacco Litigation - http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/cases/tobacco2

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