VENTURA COUNTY TO SHARE IN JOE CAMEL SETTLEMENT.Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has agreed to pay California communities, including Ventura County, $10 million in damages for its now-retired Joe Camel Joe Camel (officially Old Joe) was the advertising mascot for Camel cigarettes from late 1987 to July 12, 1997, appearing in magazine advertisements, billboards, and other print media. campaign. The 13 cities and counties filed a lawsuit accusing the tobacco maker of violating state law by targeting children with the cartoon. The settlement was announced late Monday. ``Joe Camel in California is dead,'' said San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden City Attorney Louise Renne. ``The death certificate is officially issued.'' The settlement, finalized Monday, promises $10 million to the communities that joined the suit, said Janet Mangini, an attorney who filed the lawsuit in 1991 as a private citizen. She said $9 million would go toward anti-smoking education aimed at young people, and $1 million would pay attorneys' fees for the cities and counties. Ventura County Counsel James McBride James McBride may mean:
The county Board of Supervisors The examples and perspective in this article or section may represent an unduly geographically limited view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. The Board of Supervisors is the body governing counties in the U.S. decided to join the lawsuit earlier this year to bolster the effort against the popular Joe Camel advertisements, McBride said. ``We thought it had merit, we thought it would succeed and we wanted to throw our county's support behind this litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. ,'' he said. ``What this case does is get rid of Joe Camel.'' The Joe Camel campaign, which began in 1988, became increasingly visible in the county over the past two years. Billboards featuring the character lounging beside pool tables and motorcycles have appeared on roadsides in Oxnard, Port Hueneme Port Hueneme (wī'nē`mē), city (1990 pop. 20,319), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast; founded 1870, inc. 1948. It has an artificial deep-sea harbor and is the site of a huge naval construction-battalion (Seabee) center. and Saticoy, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. officials with the county Tobacco Education and Control Program. Funded with a 25 cent state tobacco tax, the county's tobacco program primarily supports educational efforts targeting students in fourth through 12th grades and local efforts to restrict smoking in the workplace, including restaurants and bars. The county also has joined a lawsuit brought by the city and county of San Francisco against all the major tobacco companies, charging that the companies and tobacco trade associations have engaged in a conspiracy to conceal the addictive nature of cigarettes. Reynolds said that in settling the lawsuit over Joe Camel, the company wasn't acknowledging that the advertising campaign targeted underage smokers. ``The Joe Camel campaign was directed to and highly successful with adults in their 20s who choose to smoke,'' said Charles A. Blixit, RJR's general counsel. Mangini claimed Reynolds violated a California law California Law consists of 29 codes, covering various subject areas, the State Constitution and Statutes. See also
She sought to outlaw the use of Joe Camel in California, strip Reynolds of illicit profits and require that the money be used for research or other public purposes. In March, 13 cities and counties joined the suit, seeking additional damages: $2,500 for each sale of Camel cigarettes to a minor; for each distribution of a promotional cap, T-shirt or jacket; and for each advertising display within their borders. The suit was dismissed by a San Francisco Superior Court judge, who said the state could not regulate tobacco advertising. But it was reinstated by an appellate court A court having jurisdiction to review decisions of a trial-level or other lower court. An unsuccessful party in a lawsuit must file an appeal with an appellate court in order to have the decision reviewed. and upheld by the state Supreme Court in 1994. It was set to go to trial in December. As a condition of the settlement, R.J. Reynolds admitted no wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do but agreed to release internal marketing documents about the Joe Camel campaign.
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