TOBACCO INDUSTRY: VOWS TO CEASE SEPARATE SETTLEMENTS

      In what "looked to some like an effort to push Washington to
 approve a national settlement," tobacco industry officials said
 yesterday they will no longer settle individual lawsuits filed
 against the industry by the states, USA Today reports.  Following
 a hearing on Texas' $14 billion suit against the industry, Dan
 Webb, the lead attorney for cigarette makers, said, "The tobacco
 companies are either going to get the global resolution or we'll
 go to trial one state at a time, starting in Texas" (Levy, 9/9). 
 Reuters/Philadelphia Inquirer reports that [e]xecutives from the
 top five U.S. tobacco companies" told the federal judge
 overseeing the Texas case that they "would not settle out of
 court with Texas despite" the recently announced settlements with
 Florida and Mississippi (Murray, 9/9). 
      REMEMBER THE ALAMO!
      Clifford Douglas, an attorney for states suing tobacco
 companies, said of the announcement, "The industry is playing
 hard-ball rhetorically in an effort to jump-start the stalled
 settlement effort at the White House and on Capitol Hill."  
 The Texas suit is scheduled to go to trial September 29, but
 Texas' attorneys have asked for a 30-day delay in the trial, a
 postponement that USA Today notes "could push settlement talks
 back until after both the White House and Congress begin earnest
 work on the national deal" (9/9).  However, Texas Attorney
 General Dan Morales (D) said yesterday the state has not entered
 into negotiations with the industry and that he believes the case
 will go to trial.  "This forum is going to provide a unique
 opportunity ... to hold this industry accountable for the last 40
 years of their illegal activities," he said. 
 Reuters/Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the industry believes
 it has a strong case in Texas and "is confident it can send a
 powerful message to the states and Congress if it wins."  Noting
 the Texas case would be heard by a jury -- unlike the Mississippi
 case -- and that Texas lacks laws restricting the industry's
 traditional legal defense -- unlike Florida -- one industry
 source said, "This is the one we wanted to take to trial.  It is
 one we are convinced we can win" (9/9).
      SAN FRANCISCO SETTLEMENT
      R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. agreed yesterday to settle
 litigation filed by "San Francisco and 13 other California cities
 and counties that have accused the company of aiming sales
 pitches at minors," San Francisco Chronicle reports.  The
 nation's second-largest cigarette manufacturer will pay $10
 million to settle the claims, $9 million of which will fund anti-
 smoking advertising and enforcement activities.  San Francisco,
 Los Angeles and San Jose will each receive $1.5 million for these
 activities.  In announcing the settlement, San Francisco City
 Attorney Louise Renne said, "Joe Camel in California is dead. 
 The death certificate is officially issued" (Doyle, 9/9).