As for Liggett's motive, industry and financial analysts speculated that Liggett's CEO hoped to make the marginally profitable company a more attractive merger partner by eliminating its exposure to possibly huge jury awards.
If Liggett could reduce its exposure to damages, then Liggett would be more likely to merge.
Liggett took a rain check on the merger because its profits were up and exposure to jury awards was non-existent. 