Republic of Panama v. Amer Tobacco Co Inc

              UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                   FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT


                       No. 00-30687


                    REPUBLIC OF PANAMA,

                                          Plaintiff - Appellee,


                          versus


       THE AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY, INC., ET AL.,

                                                     Defendants,


            FORTUNE BRANDS, INC., formerly known as
     American Brands, Inc.; R. J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO CO.;
        BROWN & WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORP., individually
and as successor by merger to The American Tobacco Company;
  BATUS, INC.; BATUS HOLDINGS, INC.; PHILIP MORRIS, INC.;
   PHILIP MORRIS COMPANIES, INC.; LORILLARD TOBACCO CO.;
      LIGGETT GROUP, INC.; THE TOBACCO INSTITUTE, INC.;
           QUAGLINO TOBACCO AND CANDY COMPANY, INC.;
                 J & R VENDING SERVICES, INC.,

                                      Defendants - Appellants.


                     SAO PAULO STATE,
           of the Federative Republic of Brazil,

                                          Plaintiff - Appellee,


                          versus


           THE AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY, ET AL.,

                                                     Defendants,


          FORTUNE BRANDS, INC., formerly known as
    American Brands, Inc.; R. J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO CO.;
      BROWN & WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORP., individually
   and as successor by merger to The American Tobacco Company;
     BATUS, INC.; BATUS HOLDINGS, INC.; PHILIP MORRIS, INC.;
      PHILIP MORRIS COMPANIES, INC.; LORILLARD TOBACCO CO.;
        LIGGETT GROUP, INC.; THE TOBACCO INSTITUTE, INC.;
             QUAGLINO TOBACCO AND CANDY COMPANY, INC.;
                   J & R VENDING SERVICES, INC.,

                                           Defendants - Appellants.


            Appeals from the United States District Court
                for the Eastern District of Louisiana

                         September 18, 2002
                  ON REMAND FROM THE SUPREME COURT


                        OF THE UNITED STATES


Before EMILIO M. GARZA, STEWART, and PARKER, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:

     On April 1, 2002 the Supreme Court of the United States

granted certiorari in this matter, and simultaneously filed an

opinion reversing the judgment of this court and remanded for

further proceedings not inconsistent with its opinion.      See Sao

Paulo, State of the Federative Republic of Brazil v. American

Tobacco Co., 535 U.S. ___, 122 S. Ct. 1290 (2002).    In accordance

with that opinion, in which the Supreme Court concluded that a

reasonable person apprised of the facts would not believe that

the district judge had any interest or bias, id. at ___, 122 S.

Ct. at 1292, the district court’s order denying recusal is

AFFIRMED.



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