A lawsuit against the tobacco industry and the state of California challenging the 1998 nationwide tobacco settlement has been dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Associated Press reported May 12.

California smoker Steve Sanders filed the suit in 2004, claiming the $200-billion settlement between the four leading tobacco companies and 46 states violated antitrust laws and was anticompetitive. The cigarettes companies subsequently raised their prices by $12.20 per carton over the next four years to cover the costs of the agreement, which Sanders said allowed the industry to generate twice the revenue they needed to pay out under the settlement.

Lawyers for the state and the tobacco industry argued that the deal was exempt from antitrust laws, and lower courts agreed. The U.S. Supreme Court this week dismissed an appeal of the case without comment.