AG Sues To Protect Big Tobacco
The office of Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson has sued a Canadian tobacco manufacture, Grand River Enterprises Six Nations Ltd. on a claim that the company failed to properly fund the required extortion account. The company manufactures Opal and Seneca cigarettes and was not a party to Edmondson’s deal with ‘big tobacco’ back in 1998.
Oklahoma enacted a “nonparticipating manufacturer” law in 1999 requiring tobacco companies who chose not to join the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement or which did not exist at that time to pay into an extortion fund. Manufacturers who sell tobacco in Oklahoma are subject to the statute.
Recently the Seneca-Cayuga Tribes sued Edmondson in federal court in Tulsa on a claim that the tribe is soverign and therefore not subject to economic deals the state of Oklahoma cuts with anyone, especially deals to protect the interests of large tobacco companies by forcing smaller companies out of business.
Grand River Enterprises Six Nations Ltd. is one of three small tobacco companies that have sued the Attorney Generals of the various states involved in this scam. You can read more about that case which appears destined to the US Supreme Court by Clicking Here.