Lawyers Fought U.S. Move to Curb Tobacco Penalty

[BurtWorm]

I'll bet you thought reducing the penalties was the lawyers' idea. :sarcasm:


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/politics/16tobacco.html?ei=5094&en=5a00e8fdad7bee79&hp=&ex=1118980800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print


By ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, June 15 - Senior Justice Department officials overrode the objections of career lawyers running the government's tobacco racketeering trial and ordered them to reduce the penalties sought at the close of the nine-month trial by $120 billion, internal documents and interviews show.

The trial team argued that the move would be seen as politically motivated and legally groundless.

"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 two top lawyers for the trial team, Sharon Y. Eubanks and Stephen D. Brody, wrote in a memorandum on May 30 to Associate Attorney General Robert D. McCallum that was reviewed by The New York Times.

The two lawyers said the lower penalty recommendation ordered by Mr. McCallum would weaken the department's position in any possible settlement with the industry and "create an incentive for defendants to engage in future misconduct by making the misconduct profitable."

[BurtWorm]

1. kick

[Pobeka]

2. Nah. The Bushistas value life too much to be behind this.

:sarcasm: