Sanders

I. Background

The following facts are undisputed for the purpose of the motion to dismiss, unless otherwise noted. The United States cigarette market is dominated by four companies: Philip Mor- ris USA Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Brown & William- son Tobacco Corp., and Lorillard Tobacco Co. Their combined sales have accounted for more than 90 percent of cigarette sales for at least the last decade.

These four companies in the 1990s faced coordinated law- suits by the attorneys general of most states and U.S. territo- ries, who sought money and other relief to help their governments cope with the harmful effects of smoking and the costs imposed by those effects. In late 1998, the tobacco companies and the attorneys general signed the MSA.2 State courts, including the California Superior Court, then approved the MSA in consent decrees and dismissed the lawsuits against the tobacco companies. 2 The MSA in its entirety can be found at www.naag.org/ backpages/naag/tobacco/msa/msa-pdf (last visited Aug. 23, 2007). SANDERS v. BROWN 13211 The MSA requires the four major tobacco companies — who, as the initial signatories of the MSA, are known as the…