Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has announced that an arbitration panel of former judges has ruled in favor of the state in its dispute with cigarette manufacturers. The win will result in Wisconsin receiving approximately $24 million in disputed funds. Fond du Lac County Tobacco Prevention and Control coordinator Johanna Brotz says the ruling means that tobacco companies are being held accountable. The dispute involved the annual payments that tobacco manufacturers owe the state under the landmark public health agreement known as the Master Settlement Agreement that Wisconsin and 45 other states reached with the tobacco companies in 1998.
