When the city of Worcester, Mass., “Wustah” to locals took on the entire tobacco industry last May by adopting an ordinance banning all tobacco advertising visible from public streets, the city’s lawyers knew they were in for a fight. They got it just one month later, when a coalition of tobacco companies and an industry group sued the city for a declaration that the ordinance is unconstitutional. And now the fight may already be over.
The tobacco industry’s lawyers at Jones Day, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and Greenberg Traurig scored a direct hit on Monday, when Boston federal district court judge Douglas Woodlock ruled that the ordinance violated the companies’ First Amendment rights. The 23-page opinion was dated March 31 but released Monday.
