OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — American Indians have filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the tobacco industry, claiming they were unfairly excluded from the massive settlement reached by states.
"Once again in Indian country we have been left clear out of the process," said Wilfred Louie, one of several tribal officials who appeared at a news conference Thursday to discuss the class action federal suit filed on behalf of 20 tribes and pueblos.
The suit, filed Wednesday in San Francisco, demands $1 billion in compensation and punitive damages from several tobacco companies.
The suit stems from an agreement reached last November in which the tobacco industry promised to pay $40 billion over 25 years to settle four state lawsuits and another $206 billion in a broader deal with the other 46 states.
According to the suit, Indians were counted in census data used to determine how the money would be distributed but were not allotted their own share of the money. The suit claims that is a violation of Indian sovereignty and amounts to racial discrimination.
A spokesman for the tobacco industry said officials had not seen the suit and could not comment on its allegations.
Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, said the assumption that Indians won't benefit from the settlement is "perhaps a premature conclusion, at least for California."
According to the suit, Indians traditionally have used tobacco for ceremonial and medicinal purposes only. But during World War II, Indian soldiers were introduced to cigarettes and tobacco companies began targeting that population, the suit charges.
Today, American Indians smoke at a rate of 39 percent, compared to 26 percent for blacks, 25 percent for whites, 18 percent for Hispanics and 15 percent for Asians, the suit says.
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