Milberg secures major victory for Baltimore in cigarette filter pollution lawsuit against tobacco companies. Oct 30, 2026, 08:00 ET Maryland court rules that landmark 1998 tobacco settlement does not bar Baltimore's environmental claims, rejects companies' bid to offset potential damages against state settlement payments, and allows design-defect claims to proceed NEW YORK, Oct. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Milberg PLLC secured a significant legal victory on behalf of the City of Baltimore in its lawsuit against tobacco manufacturers Philip Morris USA Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and Liggett Group LLC, as well as distributor The George J. Falter Company, seeking to hold them accountable for the environmental damage and cleanup costs caused by discarded plastic cigarette filters. Milberg PLLC represents the City alongside co-counsel Napoli Shkolnik PLLC and Kanner & Whiteley, LLC. In an extraordinary affirmative win for a plaintiff, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City granted the City's cross-motion for summary judgment on the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) issues, determining that Baltimore was not a "Releasing Party" under the agreement because Maryland's Attorney General lacked the authority to release claims on behalf of political subdivisions when the MSA was executed in 1998. In a Memorandum Opinion and Order, Judge Audrey J.S. Carrión further held that the City's claims were not "Released Claims" because "the MSA is fundamentally health-related in both its character and purpose, addressing youth smoking and the effect of smoking on public health," whereas "harm to the environment...provides the basis of the City's claims." On that same basis, the Court rejected the tobacco companies' bid to offset any judgment against their annual MSA payments to Maryland, ruling that the agreement's offset provision applies only to Released Claims. The Court separately denied the tobacco companies' own motion for summary judgment and denied in part their renewed motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. The Court also determined that the City's claims for design defect remained viable, rejecting the companies' arguments for dismissal based on the absence of allegations establishing harm to cigarette consumers and that the companies had sufficient control over the product. "This ruling confirms what we have argued from the outset: the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement was never intended to shield tobacco companies from accountability for the environmental consequences of their products," said Zachary Howerton, Partner at Milberg. "Baltimore never surrendered its right to pursue these claims, and the Court has now affirmed that the City can proceed with its design-defect claims against the manufacturers. For decades, tobacco companies have profited from selling cigarettes containing non-biodegradable plastic filters, while municipalities and their taxpayers have been left to bear the enormous costs of cleaning up the resulting environmental contamination. This decision represents a significant step toward shifting that burden from the taxpayers of Baltimore to the companies responsible for producing these products." According to the World Health Organization, cigarette butts are "the most littered item on the planet," with an estimated 4.5 trillion littered worldwide every year. Tobacco product litter makes up an estimated 25 to 40 percent of all litter collected globally. Cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, a non-biodegradable plastic, and as they break down, they leach nicotine, heavy metals, and other absorbed chemicals into soil and waterways. Each year, Baltimore City collects more than 2,600 tons of litter at a cost to taxpayers of more than $32 million, with cigarette filters making up a significant portion of that waste. Between 2014 and 2022, the City's "Mr. Trash Wheel" alone collected over 12.4 million cigarette filters from the Inner Harbor. The lawsuit seeks to recover the portion of those cleanup costs attributable to cigarette filters and to compel changes to the design of filtered cigarettes that will lessen their environmental impact. "What Baltimore has pulled out of its own harbor is just one city's share of a global problem," said Marc Grossman, Senior Partner at Milberg. "This result is also a credit to Sara Gross and the City's Law Department; their partnership and persistence on this case from the outset helped get us here, and we look forward to continuing to work alongside the City to see it through." Milberg's Howerton and Napoli Shkolnik's Coral M. Odiot Rivera serve as co-chairs, alongside Verónica N. Vázquez-Santiago, also of Napoli Shkolnik, of the American Association for Justice's (AAJ) Microplastics Litigation Group, formed earlier this year to coordinate strategy among plaintiffs' attorneys pursuing microplastics claims nationally. Milberg currently represents the City of Baltimore in two separate microplastics-related suits: this cigarette filter case against tobacco manufacturers, filed in 2022, and a 2024 case against plastics companies. About Milberg's Environmental Litigation Practice Milberg's environmental litigation team has spent more than fifty years representing municipalities, water utilities, and public agencies in complex contamination and mass tort cases, including the Camp Lejeune water litigation, the Norfolk Southern derailment spill, AFFF/PFAS claims nationwide, and claims brought by Brazilian municipalities following the 2015 Fundão dam collapse. The firm has recovered more than $50 billion for its clients over its history. SOURCE Milberg

Baltimore's city-owned Hilton hotel records worst financial performance in years. by REBECCA PRYOR | FOX45 NEWS Tue, October 27, 2026 at 2:43 PM Updated Tue, October 27, 2026 at 4:39 PM 00:00 03:24 The city-owned Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor (WBFF) Ask Fox Baltimore anything What was the 2025 occupancy rate of the Hilton Baltimore? How much taxpayer money has been spent to support the hotel? Why has the hotel failed to meet its 74% occupancy target? BALTIMORE (WBFF) - Nearly two decades after opening with promises of generating significant revenue for Baltimore City, the city-owned Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor continues to fall short of expectations, with new financial disclosures revealing declining occupancy rates and mounting concerns over the millions of taxpayer dollars spent keeping the hotel afloat. The more than 750-room hotel, located in the heart of downtown Baltimore, was built with roughly $300 million in borrowed money. City leaders hoped the investment would become a big money maker. However, the hotel has never reached its original occupancy projections, and its latest financial performance is raising new questions about the long-term viability of the investment. According to newly released financial disclosures, the hotel's occupancy rate dropped to just 52.3% last year, meaning nearly half of its rooms sat empty on an average night. Despite declining occupancy, the average nightly room rate climbed to approximately $204. The combination of higher prices and fewer guests resulted in revenue per available room falling to its lowest level since 2009, excluding years impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. "So, this was a miserable performance," said local economist Anirban Basu. Basu argues the pricing simply doesn't add up. The hotel was originally projected to reach a 74 percent occupancy rate, but has never hit that target. "Typically with a business, if you're not getting enough demand, you lower your price, which they should be doing," Basu said. Meanwhile, the financial burden on taxpayers continues to grow. Baltimore City borrowed roughly $300 million to construct the hotel, expecting it to generate enough revenue to support its operations and repay the debt. Instead, the city has spent or refunded approximately $143 million to help keep the hotel afloat, while much of the original debt remains outstanding. Taxpayer advocate David Williams argues the city should never have entered the hotel business in the first place. "This is very unusual for a city to own an investment, a hotel, or really anything," Williams said, "The city should focus on what they need to do, and that's infrastructure, education, making people safe." Looking ahead, city officials do say business is improving in 2026, citing major events, stronger convention bookings, and the unexpected closure of the nearby Sheraton hotel. However, Basu cautioned that even a stronger year would not erase nearly two decades of missed financial expectations. He also warned that selling the hotel now could create additional financial challenges for taxpayers. "Who's going to buy it and at what price? And the city still owes money on those bonds that it issued," Basu said, "I think right now you've got to tough it out. You've got to expand the value of this hotel. Wait for interest rates to fall. Wait for the hotel market to heat up a bit, and then maybe at some point in the future sell the hotel." The hotel's ongoing financial challenges also come as plans move forward to build another hotel just blocks away as part of the proposed Harborplace redevelopment. Both Basu and Williams question whether downtown Baltimore has sufficient demand to support additional hotel rooms when the city-owned Hilton continues to struggle to fill the rooms it already has. SPONSORED CONTENT MORE TO EXPLORE