The federal tobacco lawsuit has hit a snag. Six years after the states settled with "Big Tobacco" for $246 Billion, the Fed tried to get in on the action by bringing a $280 Billion RICO suit. They are alleging a coordinated and deliberate fraud to mislead the public about the dangers of smoking, and are seeking billions of dollars in civil penalties. But a judge has ruled that while the fed can sue, they cannot seek monetary damages under the civil RICO statute.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the civil RICO statute doesn't allow the government to recover money in the ongoing lower court case because RICO statutes required "forward-looking remedies," while seeking the money was "a remedy aimed at past violations."

This puts a pretty big damper on the federal lawsuit. They had been hoping to rein in "Big Tobacco" while reaping a financial windfall at the same time. But without monetary damages, all the fed can do is limit marketing or demand that they fund more of those lame anti-smoking advertisements (which I tend to think actually increases teen smoking).