CalSTRS likely to continue eschewing tobacco.(California State Teachers' Retirement System's)

Pensions & Investments, September, 2006

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - CalSTRS staff recommended continuing exclusion of tobacco companies from the pension fund's equity and debt benchmarks, but noted the fund may revisit that decision given a July 6 Florida Supreme Court ruling reversing $145 billion in punitive damages against tobacco companies.

That ruling substantially reduces the litigation risk to the tobacco industry in U.S. courts, staff wrote in a memo to the board. However, it added that some observers think the Florida ruling, which also found that tobacco products were defective, addictive and cause disease, might spur a new round of domestic lawsuits. Also, recent lawsuits in at least 35 countries outside the United States may pose new survival tests for the tobacco industry, the memo said....

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