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Published on Tuesday, October 14, 2008
By LA Daily News Staff Writer
WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court appeared skeptical Tuesday that a landmark tobacco judgment could be supported under racketeering laws, questioning whether cigarette makers had conspired to hide the dangers of smoking and would continue deceiving the public.
During the three-hour oral argument, all three judges on the appeals panel queried whether the 2006 ruling by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler had fully laid out the evidence showing a group conspiracy as required under RICO, a law designed to combat mobsters and other organized criminals.
On several occasions, government attorneys seeking to convince the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to sign off on billions in financial penalties against the industry allowed that Kessler's 1,653-page ruling might not have spelled out the racketeering violations, or the remedies, as clearly as it should
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