Tobacco Control And The Role Of Litigation: A Survey Of Issues In Law, Policy, And Economics

Authors

Basil C. Bitas
Pedro P. Barros

Abstract

This article examines the course of tobacco litigation in the United States and its implications for law and policy on both the national and international levels. In our view, the disparate legal traditions and attitudes of countries outside the United States will lead the majority of such states to opt for the direct and transparent regulation of tobacco activities through formal and perhaps consensual channels. This will likely promote effective tobacco control without the policy mix encompassing a period of prolonged litigation buttressed by settlement and regulation, which has characterized the U.S. process. Therefore, despite some increased litigation in the product liability area as a whole, the approach to tobacco control on the international level is likely to be characterized by the continuing, and, indeed, increased reliance on direct regulation rather than on ad hoc litigation, the efficiencies of the former approach having now become evident.

Recommended Citation

Basil C. Bitas and Pedro P. Barros, Tobacco Control And The Role Of Litigation: A Survey Of Issues In Law, Policy, And Economics, 16 U. MIA Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 1 (2008)
Available at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umiclr/vol16/iss1/3