Lawsuit Over Los Angeles County’s Flavored Tobacco Ban Dismissed
Judge Fischer granted L.A. County’s motion to dismiss with prejudice
A California federal judge on Friday threw out a lawsuit brought by a group of tobacco companies challenging a ban on flavored tobacco products put in place by Los Angeles County, saying federal law gives states and localities the power to ban the sale of tobacco products.
In a five-page order, U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer granted a motion by Los Angeles and its board of supervisors to dismiss a lawsuit brought by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., American Snuff Co. and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. Inc. over the ban, which the county put in place last fall to limit the use of tobacco products by young people.
Judge Fischer rejected the tobacco companies’ argument that the federal Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act preempts the county’s ordinance, saying the ban doesn’t regulate tobacco product standards. The judge said the ordinance is protected by the federal law’s preservation clause, which allows states and localities to prohibit the sale of tobacco products even if those sales bans are stricter than federal law.
The companies also said the county’s ordinance is impliedly preempted because it undermines the Tobacco Control Act’s ability to set national standards to control the manufacture of tobacco products. But the judge disagreed, saying the federal law expressly gives states and local governments the power to prohibit the sale of tobacco products.
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