Canada
Three major tobacco companies will appeal against a decision by a Canadian court demanding that they pay C$15.5 billion (US$12.5 billion) in damages to smokers in Quebec, following a 17-year legal battle.
The decision came at the climax of two class-action lawsuits originally brought in 1998 against Imperial Tobacco Canada, owned by British American Tobacco; Rothmans, Benson & Hedges (RBH), owned by Philip Morris International (PMI); and Japan Tobacco’s JTI-MacDonald. The cases only went to trial in 2012. One was launched by smokers who said they had been unable to quit, the other by a group who became seriously ill as a result of smoking.
Heard together, the two lawsuits comprised what was described as the biggest civil case in Canada’s history. The individual awards range from C$100,000 for any plaintiff with cancer who started smoking before January 1976, to approximately C$130 for any of the almost one million Quebec smokers who claim they were incapable of quitting.
The three firms immediately announced they would appeal against the decision, arguing that Canadians have had a “high awareness” of the health risks of smoking for several decades.
“That awareness has been reinforced by the health warnings printed on every legal cigarette package for more than 40 years,” JTI-Macdonald said in a statement.
Commenting on today’s ruling, RBH spokesperson Anne Edwards said: “These cases are far from over. We will vigorously appeal this lower court’s judgment, and believe that we have very strong legal grounds to overturn the judgment in its entirety. Plaintiffs sought money for over a million people but not a single class member, in nearly three years of trial, testified under oath. Not one showed up to say that he or she was unaware of the risks of smoking.
The evidence at trial, including the government’s own polling and statements, demonstrated that the Canadian public has been aware of the risks of smoking for many decades. The trial court explicitly acknowledged this but nonetheless held RBH liable to those who chose to smoke in light of these well-known risks.”
For decades, RBH has operated under one of the most comprehensive sets of regulations in the world. Federal and provincial governments have long recognized the serious health risks of smoking and have strictly regulated the manufacture, sale and marketing of the product.
RBH’s parent company, PMI is not a party to these cases and is not liable for any portion of the judgment.