In Canada: Tobacco company ordered to pay billions to smokers

The case is believed to be the biggest
class-action lawsuit ever seen in Canada
even as the companies – JTI-Macdonald,
Imperial Tobacco, and Rothmans,
Benson & Hedges said they will appeal.
Smokers in Quebec claiming they were
never warned about health risks linked
to smoking will be paid $12.4bn (about
N2.4 trillion) by tobacco firms, following
a court order.
Reuters reports that Superior Court
Justice Brian Riordan said in his decision
that by choosing not to inform health
authorities or the public directly of what
they knew, the companies chose profits
over the health of their customers.
The case is believed to be the biggest
class-action lawsuit ever seen in Canada
even as the companies – JTI-Macdonald,
Imperial Tobacco, and Rothmans, Benson &
Hedges said they will appeal.
Over a million Quebecers were
represented and argued the companies
were liable because they knew they were
putting out a harmful product and hid
the health effects of tobacco.
The judgement calls on the companies to
issue initial compensation of more than
$800m (about N159 billion) in the next
60 days, regardless of whether they elect
to appeal.
The judge will decide at a later date how
to distribute those funds.
The Quebec case marked the first time
tobacco companies had gone to trial in a
civil lawsuit in Canada and involved two
separate groups of plaintiffs – some of
whom became seriously ill from smoking
and others who said they couldn’t quit.
In his ruling, Justice Riordan said,
“The companies earned billions of dollars
at the expense of the lungs, the throats
and the general well-being of their
customers. If the companies are allowed
to walk away unscathed now, what
would be the message to other industries
that today or tomorrow find themselves
in a similar moral conflict?”
But the industry argued people knew
about the risks of smoking and that the
products were sold legally and with
federal government approval and strict
regulation.
The 3 firms will split the payout
according to responsibility set out by the
court – 67% will fall to Imperial Tobacco ,
20% to Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, and
13% to JTI-Macdonald .
The trial stemmed from two cases that
were originally filed separately in 1998
before being certified and consolidated
in 2005, while the case began sitting in
2012.