California Superior Court Judge Ronald Prager said that he is ready to dismiss the case against Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson, and Lorillard. The class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of 1.5 million California teenage smokers. It seeks up to $2 billion in profits that the tobacco companies allegedly made by selling cigarettes to minors.

Prager recently fined R.J. Reynolds $20 million in a state lawsuit over a similar issue. But in the class-action case, he said he found no evidence that the tobacco companies directly encouraged teens to smoke, such as by putting displays at children's eye level or near candy.

Prager said, however, that he would give the plaintiffs one last chance to make an oral argument before he moved to dismiss the case.

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