What has been the impact of legal challenges to the approval of the MSA?
To date, no challenges have been successful and trial courts have been granting approval of the MSA, although several appeals are pending. While certain individuals and organizations66 have sought to intervene in the states’ cases in order to challenge the MSA or persuade the presiding judge to delay any decision on approving a settlement until fairness hearings could be held, forty-one of the forty-six signing states had approved the MSA by February 4, 1999.67 However, appeals filed in several of those states68 challenging the approval of the MSA and consent decree approving the settlement are still pending. The November 23, 1998 settlement with the tobacco industry required settling states to submit the MSA and a consent decree to the relevant court with jurisdiction over the lawsuit no later than December 11, 1998 and seek dismissal of the action [MSA XIII(b)]. On November 18, 1998, three Pennsylvania public health activists and several public health organizations filed motions with
