Subject:     Update to Challenge of MSA in PA
Date:         Thu, 15 Aug 1999
 

http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/99/Aug/15/review/2WEEK15.htm

The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 15, 1999

Pa. moves toward share of tobacco settlement

Commonwealth Court quashed a Philadelphia antismoking activist's appeal last week, bringing the state one step closer to receiving its payments from the nationwide tobacco settlement.

Dr. Robert B. Sklaroff, a Philadelphia cancer specialist, was behind the lone appeal blocking final state-court approval of the settlement. The $206 billion, 46-state accord requires that each of the participating states receive state-court approval of the deal and that all appeals before the courts be exhausted before payments begin. Pennsylvania's share of the settlement is $11.3 billion.

Sklaroff's appeal failed when the court voted 6-1 to uphold a trial-court decision that he lacked legal standing to intervene in the settlement.

By trying to intervene, Sklaroff and other activists had hoped to protect their rights to sue cigarette makers, rights they said could be threatened by the settlement.

But Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge John Herron denied their attempts earlier this year, saying that none had enough of a direct interest in the case to have standing. For example, he noted that none had a case pending against the tobacco companies.

Several activists appealed to Commonwealth Court but dropped their appeals in the face of pressure from the attorney general's office. Sklaroff, who represents himself in court, was the only activist to pursue an appeal.

He said he was "disappointed" by the court's ruling.

He now has 30 days to file a motion to reconsider and appeal to the state Supreme Court. If he does not - or if that appeal ultimately fails - the state will have obtained all necessary approval for its participation in the national accord.

"That's not going to happen," Sklaroff said. "I'll do something."

- Glen Justice, in Harrisburg