January 30, 2014 — Today, NATO, the New York Association of Convenience Stores, the Bodega Association of the United States, along with Lorillard Tobacco Company, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Inc., American Snuff Company, Philip Morris USA Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Brands Inc., and John Middleton Company filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions against the enforcement of several provisions of a tobacco-related ordinance adopted on October 30, 2013 by the New York City Council and which goes into effect on March 19, 2014. The ordinance provisions that are the subject of the litigation are those sections that restrict cigarette and tobacco product coupons and other promotional price discounts on tobacco products. As set out in the lawsuit, the ban on cigarette and tobacco product coupons and promotional price discounts raise serious federal and state constitutional questions while also being pre-empted by federal and state laws. Specifically, the lawsuit seeks a judgment declaring, among other things, that (1) the ban on coupons, multi-package discounts and promotionally priced tobacco products are an unconstitutional restriction of free speech, violating the United States Constitution and the New York State Constitution, and ...
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