Officials estimate Mo. to lose out on $70M

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri officials expect the state will lose out on $70 million because of an arbitration case with tobacco companies.

The attorney general's office says a three-judge arbitration panel recently sided with more than 30 cigarette manufacturers' claims that Missouri failed to diligently enforce state tobacco laws in 2003. That was a requirement of the 1998 settlement between states and tobacco companies.

The money is to be deducted from a payment Missouri receives through a 1998 legal settlement with tobacco companies and states. Officials estimate Missouri will get $60 million this upcoming April instead of $130 million.