4th Circuit Orders Court To Substitute U.S. As Defendant Following Tobacco Stings

Mealey's (August 7, 2018, 11:15 AM EDT) -- RICHMOND, Va. — A North Carolina federal judge abused his discretion in agreeing to reconsider a predecessor’s order that granted a petition to substitute the United States as a party defendant under the Westfall Act in a dispute stemming from undercover tobacco trafficking investigations led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosions (ATF), the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 3 (U.S. Tobacco Cooperative Inc., et al. v. Big South Wholesale of Virginia LLC, et al., No. 17-2070, 4th Cir., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 21574)....