Elsie Law's Daily Dose Of The Law

While a federal appeals court upheld a previous ruling that stated that the cigarette and tobacco industry violated federal racketeering laws by lying to the general public about the severe health risks associated with smoking, the 3-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia failed to order the pocket-heavy tobacco corporations to shell out any money for their life-debilitating schemes.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the judges turned down a proposal that would require the tobacco industry to fund a $10 billion national campaign to encourage people to stop smoking. The Wall Street Journal states that the judges "also affirmed an earlier ruling that the government could not force the industry to forfeit as much as $280 billion in profits."

Despite getting off without having to pay any additional penalties, at least one of the tobacco giants that were named as a defendant in this case has reportedly vowed to appeal the ruling. [SIDEBAR: The possible appeal of the appeal seems to display that not only does the tobacco companies want to get away with not being hit in their pockets; they also don't want to be labeled as the deceivers of the public that they have been proven to be.]