Maryland court rules that landmark 1998 tobacco settlement does not bar Baltimore's environmental claims, rejects companies' bid to offset potential damages against state settlement payments, and allows design-defect claims to proceed

NEW YORK, Oct. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Milberg PLLC secured a significant legal victory on behalf of the City of Baltimore in its lawsuit against tobacco manufacturers Philip Morris USA Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and Liggett Group LLC, as well as distributor The George J. Falter Company, seeking to hold them accountable for the environmental damage and cleanup costs caused by discarded plastic cigarette filters. Milberg PLLC represents the City alongside co-counsel Napoli Shkolnik PLLC and Kanner & Whiteley, LLC.

In an extraordinary affirmative win for a plaintiff, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City granted the City's cross-motion for summary judgment on the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) issues, determining that Baltimore was not a "Releasing Party" under the agreement because Maryland's Attorney General lacked the authority to release claims on behalf of political subdivisions when the MSA was executed in 1998.

In a Memorandum Opinion and Order, Judge Audrey J.S. Carrión further held that the City's claims were not "Released Claims" because "the MSA is fundamentally health-related in both its character and purpose, addressing youth smoking and the effect of smoking on public health," whereas "harm to the environment...provides the basis of the City's claims." On that same basis, the Court rejected the tobacco companies' bid to offset any judgment against their annual MSA payments to Maryland, ruling that the agreement's offset provision applies only to Released Claims. The Court separately denied the tobacco companies' own motion for summary judgment and denied in part their renewed motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim.

The Court also determined that the City's claims for design defect remained viable, rejecting the companies' arguments for dismissal based on the absence of allegations establishing harm to cigarette consumers and that the companies had sufficient control over the product.

"This ruling confirms what we have argued from the outset: the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement was never intended to shield tobacco companies from accountability for the environmental consequences of their products," said Zachary Howerton, Partner at Milberg. "Baltimore never surrendered its right to pursue these claims, and the Court has now affirmed that the City can proceed with its design-defect claims against the manufacturers. For decades, tobacco companies have profited from selling cigarettes containing non-biodegradable plastic filters, while municipalities and their taxpayers have been left to bear the enormous costs of cleaning up the resulting environmental contamination. This decision represents a significant step toward shifting that burden from the taxpayers of Baltimore to the companies responsible for producing these products."

According to the World Health Organization, cigarette butts are "the most littered item on the planet," with an estimated 4.5 trillion littered worldwide every year. Tobacco product litter makes up an estimated 25 to 40 percent of all litter collected globally. Cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, a non-biodegradable plastic, and as they break down, they leach nicotine, heavy metals, and other absorbed chemicals into soil and waterways.

Each year, Baltimore City collects more than 2,600 tons of litter at a cost to taxpayers of more than $32 million, with cigarette filters making up a significant portion of that waste. Between 2014 and 2022, the City's "Mr. Trash Wheel" alone collected over 12.4 million cigarette filters from the Inner Harbor. The lawsuit seeks to recover the portion of those cleanup costs attributable to cigarette filters and to compel changes to the design of filtered cigarettes that will lessen their environmental impact.

"What Baltimore has pulled out of its own harbor is just one city's share of a global problem," said Marc Grossman, Senior Partner at Milberg. "This result is also a credit to Sara Gross and the City's Law Department; their partnership and persistence on this case from the outset helped get us here, and we look forward to continuing to work alongside the City to see it through."

Milberg's Howerton and Napoli Shkolnik's Coral M. Odiot Rivera serve as co-chairs, alongside Verónica N. Vázquez-Santiago, also of Napoli Shkolnik, of the American Association for Justice's (AAJ) Microplastics Litigation Group, formed earlier this year to coordinate strategy among plaintiffs' attorneys pursuing microplastics claims nationally. Milberg currently represents the City of Baltimore in two separate microplastics-related suits: this cigarette filter case against tobacco manufacturers, filed in 2022, and a 2024 case against plastics companies.

About Milberg's Environmental Litigation Practice

Milberg's environmental litigation team has spent more than fifty years representing municipalities, water utilities, and public agencies in complex contamination and mass tort cases, including the Camp Lejeune water litigation, the Norfolk Southern derailment spill, AFFF/PFAS claims nationwide, and claims brought by Brazilian municipalities following the 2015 Fundão dam collapse. The firm has recovered more than $50 billion for its clients over its history.

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