Judge to decide if R.J. Reynolds has underpaid state

PASCAGOULA — A Jackson County judge is scheduled to hear a claim that R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has underpaid the state of Mississippi at least $1 million in the tobacco settlement payments.

The Mississippi Press reports that Jackson County Chancery Judge Jaye Bradley will preside today over the non-jury trial.

Attorney General Jim Hood sued in 2010 alleging R.J. Reynolds “misrepresentation and overstated 1997 base-year profit has resulted in artificially low payments to Mississippi for 2001 and for every year thereafter in which Mississippi was entitled to a net operating profits adjustment.”

The company was part of a tobacco master settlement agreement in 1997 that included 46 states. Mississippi’s share of the 25-year, $206-billion settlement with the 46 states is expected to be approximately $3.6 billion.

Source: Mississippi Press