Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2006 Apr;15(2):120-4.
doi: 10.1136/tc.2005.013128.

Tobacco industry use of judicial seminars to influence rulings in products liability litigation

L C Friedman  1
Affiliations
Review

Tobacco industry use of judicial seminars to influence rulings in products liability litigation

L C Friedman. Tob Control. 2006 Apr.

Abstract

Objectives: This paper examines the tobacco industry's efforts to influence litigation by sponsoring judicial seminars.

Methods: Thousands of internal tobacco documents were examined, including memos, reports, presentations, and newsletters. Connections to outside organisations were corroborated by examining tobacco industry financial records, budgets, and letters pledging funds. Facts about outside organisations were triangulated through examining their websites and publicly-filed financial records, and verifying facts through their representatives' statements in newspaper and law review articles.

Results: There are direct financial ties between the tobacco industry and groups that organise judicial seminars in an effort to influence jurisprudence, and judges who attend these seminars may be breaching judicial ethics either by not inquiring about the source of funding or by ignoring funding by potential litigants.

Conclusions: The tobacco industry's attempts to clandestinely influence judges' decisions in cases to which they are a party endangers the integrity of the judiciary.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: none declared

References

    1. Cheneyet al v. U.S. Dist. Ct. for the Dist. Of Columbia, et al., 541 U.S. (2004) (Memorandum of Scalia, J. )
    1. Kendall D, Sorkin E. Community Rights Council, Nothing for Free: How Private Judicial Seminars Are Undermining Environmental Protections And Breaking the Public's Trust, July 2000, http://www.tripsforjudges.com (viewed March 29, 2004)
    1. Kendall D, Rylander J. Community Rights Council, Tainted Justice: How Private Judicial Trips Undermine Public Trust in the Federal Judiciary, March 2004, http://www.tripsforjudges.com (viewed March 29, 2004)
    1. Hamburger T, Gordon G. Tobacco Firm Linked to Travel by Judges; 2 Later Participated in Smoking Cases, Minneapolis Star Tribune 1998 July 19, Pg. 1A
    1. U. S.C. § 455(a)

Publication types