HIGH COURT WRAP: Justices To Consider NY Suit On Net Tobacco
05 5월 2009 - 3:03AM
Dow Jones News
The U.S. Supreme Court Monday said it will decide whether New
York can sue online cigarette sellers for not paying city taxes on
tobacco products shipped to purchasers living there.
New York has the highest cigarette excise taxes in the country
at $4.25 a pack, counting both state and city excise taxes. It sued
several online tobacco sellers in 2003, claiming they were
violating federal racketeering laws and seeking millions of dollars
in excise taxes it says the companies must pay to ship tobacco
products into the city.
Several of the lawsuits were consolidated into one legal
proceeding. Following adverse rulings in trial court, the 2nd U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in New York in 2008 revived the
racketeering charges in a 2-1 ruling that said New York could sue
under federal racketeering statutes. Hemi Group LLC, a New
Mexico-based business, and an individual named in one of the
lawsuits appealed the Second Circuit ruling to the Supreme
Court.
The high court will hear the case in the fall of 2009. The case
is Hemi Group v. New York.
In other Supreme Court action:
-The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that Shell Oil Co., a unit of Royal
Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA), isn't liable for Superfund environmental
cleanup costs as the maker of pesticide chemicals that were spilled
at a storage and distribution facility in Arvin, Calif. The opinion
by Justice John Paul Stevens separately said that Burlington
Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI), which leased land to the
distributor, is liable for a portion of the cleanup costs.
The federal Superfund law governs remediation of environmental
damages from industrial pollution. The high court's ruling in this
case came after the federal government, Shell Oil and Burlington
Northern disagreed over who would pay what portions of the cleanup
costs after the original chemical distributor went out of business.
Overall cleanup costs involved in the case have exceeded $10
million. The Supreme Court ruling said Burlington Northern's 9%
share of the costs, as ordered by a federal trial court, was
appropriate but that Shell did not have to pay.
The cases are Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. v.
U.S., 07-1601, and Shell Oil Co. v. U.S., 07-1607.
-The justices asked a lower court to again review a ruling that
rejected a $550,000 Federal Communications Commission fine against
CBS Corp. (CBS) over its live broadcast of Janet Jackson's
breast-baring during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. The Supreme
Court last week in a separate case ruled 5-4 that the FCC's rules
on indecency over the airwaves aren't "arbitrary nor
capricious."
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia had thrown
out the fine after ruling the FCC's rules were arbitrary. The case
is FCC v. CBS Corp., 08-653.
-By Mark H. Anderson, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9254