Suit argues portion of settlement money should go to ailing smokers

Thursday, Jan. 27, 2000 | 9:52 a.m.

Attorney Fred Pinkerton said the request for class action status for as many as 2,400 Nevada Medicaid recipients was filed with Washoe District Judge James Hardesty, who retains jurisdiction over the state's settlement agreement with the big tobacco companies.

That agreement is expected to bring Nevada $1.2 billion over 25 years, money that Gov. Kenny Guinn and the Nevada Legislature have already allocated to a variety of programs, including the Millennium scholarship plan for this year's high school seniors.

Guinn said Wednesday that the tobacco money is being used wisely and properly.

"I feel we have used Nevada's portion of the tobacco settlement funds to the maximum benefit of the people of our state and we have done so rightfully and legally," he said.

The Nevada motion is one of several legal actions being filed in states across the nation to seek a share of the tobacco settlement money for Medicaid recipients.

"It became crystal clear recently that states weren't going to do the right thing. They're going to spend money on bridges and highways and not give any money to the people on whose back they won the settlement," said Antonio Ponvert, an attorney helping coordinate the lawsuits.

The motion asking permission to file the class action lawsuit names three people, all of whom are spending their own money to obtain Medicaid coverage for themselves or family members, Pinkerton said. Medicaid is a government financed health insurance program for the poor.

Costs for smoking illnesses to the federal and state funded program was the focus of the tobacco settlement. Almost $600 million was spent on Medicaid for about 100,000 recipients in 1999.

One person named in the motion is Shirley Rickerts of Reno, whose husband, David Rickerts, recently died from a respiratory illness resulting from a lifelong smoking habit, Pinkerton said.

David Rickerts was placed in a nursing home after spending $75,000 of his own assets to become eligible for Medicaid coverage. The Rickerts home also has a lien of $74,000 that will be due to the Medicaid program following the death of Shirley Rickerts, he said.

Yet Shirley Rickerts and Medicaid recipients who suffer from smoking-related illness are receiving no compensation from the tobacco settlement, Pinkerton said.

"These folks ought to be in line for a percentage of the money," he said.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa had not seen the motion late Wednesday, but noted a that a similar action filed in Wisconsin was dismissed in U.S. District Court.

Del Papa's office has joined with other states urging a federal appeals court to uphold the dismissal of the Wisconsin complaint, which also was filed by Medicaid recipients.

"Again, without having the opportunity to review the actual lawsuit itself, based on what I have been told, I believe this lawsuit will be dismissed as well," Del Papa said.

Pinkerton said the amount of compensation being sought in the lawsuit is not specified, only that a percentage of the settlement should go to the Medicaid recipients themselves or their survivors.

Nevada joined with 45 other states in accepting the $205 billion settlement with tobacco companies in November 1998. The state received the first installment of the settlement, $13.1 million, last month.

The question of what to do with the money was a hot topic in the 1999 Legislature. Guinn proposed the scholarship plan for Nevada students graduating with a B grade-point average or better to attend the state higher education system. The Legislature agreed to spend 40 percent of what is expected to be about $48 million a year in tobacco settlement money on the program, which will begin in the fall for this year's high school graduates.

Another 40 percent was directed to health programs for senior citizens, children and the disabled. Ten percent is being held in a trust for health care, and 10 percent will be spent on tobacco prevention programs.