9/7/05 Defendants file their response to the Government's post-trial brief and a separate opening brief on affirmative defenses.

9/1/05 Judge Kessler accepts four amicus briefs filed by Regents of the University of California; Essential Action and others; Tobacco Control Legal Consortium and others; and Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth.

8/31/05 Public health intervenors file Post-Trial Brief and Proposed Final Judgement and Order.

8/24/05 Government files its post-trial legal brief. Government's brief

8/15/05 Parties file simultaneous post-trial proposed findings of fact. Government's Filing: Executive Summary only. Full filing (please note this PDF is 16 MB).

7/22/05 Public health groups are granted their Motion to Intervene in the Government's lawsuit against the major tobacco companies. Read the opinion. Read the order.

7/18/05 Government appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court a lower court decision that the civil racketeering law (RICO) does not allow disgorgement of past tobacco industry profits as a remedy in the case.

6/29/05 Six public health groups file a motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to intervene in the federal government's lawsuit against the major tobacco companies.

6/27/05 Government files Proposed Final Judgment and Order

6/25/05 Deadline for Government to submit detailed proposed remedies order.

6/8/05 Government tells the court it is seeking a smoking cessation remedy of $10 billion over five years instead of $130 billion over 25 years as recommended by its expert witness on cessation.

6/7/05-6/09/05 Government and Joint Defendants present closing arguments, ending the trial phase of the lawsuit.

5/24/05-6/02/05 Joint Defendants present remedy experts.

5/02/05-5/19/05 Government presents remedy experts.

4/20/05 On a 3-3 vote, full U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit decides not to rehear the decision barring the government from seeking the disgorgement, or forfeiture, of illegal profits as a remedy.

3/4/05 Government files an appeal asking the full U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider the ruling of the three-judge panel that disgorgement, or forfeiture, of illegal profits is not an allowable remedy. Read petition for rehearing

2/16/05 Government files brief outlining some of the remedies it will seek if it wins the case, in light of the Appeals Court ruling, including the funding of tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Read United States Memorandum and United States Reply Memorandum.

2/4/05 U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rules 2-1 that disgorgement, or forfeiture, of illegal profits is not an allowable remedy. Read the ruling

9/21/05 Trial begins.

7/21/04 Judge Kessler fines Philip Morris $2.75 million for deleting certain e-mails in violation of a court order regarding preservation of documents that may be needed as evidence.

7/18/04 Judge Kessler denies tobacco industry motion for summary judgment as to claims of nicotine manipulation and addiction.

7/15/04 U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia agrees to hear the tobacco industry's challenge of Judge Kessler's 5/21/04 ruling re. disgorgement claim.

7/15/04 Judge Kessler grants Government motion to strike tobacco industry defense that the Government needs to show that the companies took part in "operation or management" of a racketeering conspiracy.

7/7/04 Judge Kessler denies tobacco industry motion that it was shielded from RICO charges by the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement.

7/2/04 Government outlines its blueprint of evidence and its legal arguments in Final Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. Part 1, Part 2

6/25/04 Judge Kessler allows the tobacco industry to appeal her 5/24/04 ruling on the disgorgement claim.

6/1/04 Judge Kessler orders BAT to turn over the Foyle memo regarding document retention/destruction policies.

5/28/04 Judge Kessler denies BAT's motion to get itself out of the lawsuit.

5/24/04 Judge Kessler rules that the Government can seek a $280 billion claim for disgorgement of tobacco industry profits.

5/6/04 Judge Kessler denies tobacco industry motion to dismiss the Government's lawsuit on the grounds that there was no chance that the tobacco industry would commit future wrongdoing.

4/7/04 Judge Kessler denies Liggett Group's motion to get out of the lawsuit on the grounds that it had broken ranks from the other tobacco companies in 1997.

3/17/04 Judge Kessler denies the tobacco companies' motion to dismiss the Government's RICO lawsuit on the grounds that the lawsuit violated the U.S. Constitution's separation of legislative and executive powers.

3/10/04 Judge Kessler rules that the Government may seek to force the tobacco companies to give up profits earned before 1970.

2/24/04 Judge Kessler denies the tobacco industry's motion to dismiss the Government's claims that the companies advertised and promoted their products to children.

2/2/04 Judge Kessler allows a tobacco industry motion to limit the number of counts of racketeering that the Government can claim.

1/23/04 Judge Kessler denies a tobacco industry motion to dismiss the Government's lawsuit on the grounds that the Government knew about smoking's dangers for years and did little or nothing about it.

5/23/03 Judge Kessler denies the tobacco industry's motion to dismiss claims regarding advertising, fraud and deception on the grounds that the Federal Trade Commission had jurisdiction over these issues.

3/18/03 The Government files its Preliminary Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, over 1,400 pages that outline its evidence and legal arguments and support its claim to recover $289 billion in ill-gotten profits.

12/14/01 The Government outlines possible equitable remedies in response to Joint Defendants interrogatories.

11/01 The Government files hundreds of pages of written testimony from its expert witnesses.

9/28/00 Judge Kessler rules the Government can go forward to try its case under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), but dismisses two claims seeking reimbursement for tobacco-related medical expenses under Medicare and other federal government health care programs (the judge ruled that statutes do not permit this type of recovery). Read the ruling

9/22/99 The Government files its lawsuit against the major tobacco companies.

(Most of the rulings referenced in this timeline can be found, organized by date, on the web site of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia at www.dcd.uscourts.gov/district-court.html.)