Forces Action Project LLC v. California

ORDER

The Memorandum disposition filed February 12, 2003, is amended. The Amended Memorandum disposition will be filed contemporaneously with this Order.

With this amendment, the petition for rehearing is DENIED. No further petitions for rehearing may be filed.

AMENDED MEMORANDUM **

Forces Action Project, a smokers’ rights organization, and individual smokers filed this action against the Attorney General of the State of California and four major cigarette manufacturers. Plaintiffs seek to invalidate the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), in which 46 states and several U.S. territories agreed to settle their claims against the cigarette manufacturers for recovery of smoking-related healthcare costs. Plaintiffs sought leave from the district court to file an amended complaint alleging that, through the MSA, Defendants are operating an output cartel and controlling cigarette prices in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1-7 . The district court denied Plaintiffs’ motion to amend.

Plaintiffs assert that the district court committed an error of law by relying on undue delay alone as justification for denying their motion to amend. See Bowles v. Reade, 198 F.3d…