WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania yesterday dismissed, in its entirety, a third-party payer lawsuit filed against the tobacco industry by the owners and operators of hospitals and

Allegheny General had sued the industry claiming that industry actions increased the costs and lowered the effectiveness of treatment provided to Medicaid, indigent and non-paying patients who allegedly suffered from tobacco-related illnesses. In its decision, the District Court dismissed all federal antitrust and RICO claims. The Court also dismissed a wide range of additional state-law claims, including fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, negligent misrepresentation and omission, breach of special duty, public nuisance, aiding and abetting, civil conspiracy, restitution/unjust enrichment, indemnity and quantum meruit. ``We applaud the court's thorough analysis and ultimate conclusion that there was no merit to any of the hospital's claims against the tobacco industry,'' said Thomas F. McKim, assistant general counsel for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. ``This ruling is consistent with at least a dozen state and federal rulings (including three federal appellate court decisions -- the 2nd, 3rd, and 9th Circuits), that third-party payers, like Allegheny General Hospital, are too remote from any alleged damage to have standing to sue,'' he said. ``All of these courts have correctly determined that cases of this type have absolutely no basis in law.'' R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc.. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is the second-largest tobacco company in the United States, manufacturing about one of every four cigarettes sold in the United States. Reynolds Tobacco's product line includes four of the nation's ten best-selling cigarette brands: Winston, Camel, Salem and Doral.

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