Delaware Legal Challenge from Tobacco Companies Dropped

A legal challenge to Delaware’s enforcement of a 1998 settlement between the states and tobacco manufacturers has been dropped.

The development was announced on Wednesday by the Delaware Department of Justice. It says that the tobacco companies had argued that in 2003 that Delaware did not satisfy its obligation to regulate smaller tobacco companies that were not participants in the settlement agreement.

Major tobacco companies make millions of dollars in annual payments to the state as part of the settlement and officials say Delaware could have faced a potential loss of between $4.5 million and $24 million if the legal challenge had been successful. The legal challenge began in 2005.

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden says he is pleased that the payments to Delaware are protected.