{"id":3290,"date":"2015-06-02T01:29:15","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T01:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3290"},"modified":"2015-06-02T01:30:54","modified_gmt":"2015-06-02T01:30:54","slug":"quebec-court-tobacco-companies-must-pay-15-billion-in-damages-to-as-many-as-1-million-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3290","title":{"rendered":"Quebec court: Tobacco companies must pay $15 billion in damages to as many as 1 million people"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/boy-holding-canadian-flag.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"3291\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?attachment_id=3291\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/boy-holding-canadian-flag.jpg?fit=984%2C373&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"984,373\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"boy-holding-canadian-flag\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/boy-holding-canadian-flag.jpg?fit=474%2C180&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-large wp-image-3291\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/boy-holding-canadian-flag.jpg?resize=474%2C180&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"boy-holding-canadian-flag\" width=\"474\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/boy-holding-canadian-flag.jpg?resize=500%2C190&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/boy-holding-canadian-flag.jpg?resize=100%2C38&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/boy-holding-canadian-flag.jpg?resize=200%2C76&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/boy-holding-canadian-flag.jpg?w=984&amp;ssl=1 984w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Big story out of Canada! Thanks very much to my friend Classical Gas for the tip.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/tobacco-companies-ordered-to-pay-15b-in-damages-1.3095963\">court in Quebec today <\/a>ordered three Canadian tobacco companies &#8212;\u00a0Imperial Tobacco, Rothmans\u00a0Benson &amp; Hedges and JTI-MacDonald &#8212; to pay $15 billion Canadian for &#8220;moral&#8221; and &#8220;punitive&#8221; damages.<\/p>\n<p>This lawsuit began way back in 2012, but the roots of it go back much further.<\/p>\n<p>From a CBC.com story:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a big day for victims of tobacco, who have been waiting for about 17 years for this decision. It was a long process \u2014 but arrived at the destination and it&#8217;s a big victory,&#8221; said Mario Bujold, executive director of the Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The plaintiffs are a number of people who were sickened by smoking and\/or their families. The groups alleged that Canadian tobacco companies:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Failed to properly warn their customers about the dangers of smoking.<\/li>\n<li>Underestimated evidence relating to the harmful effects of tobacco.<\/li>\n<li>Engaged in unscrupulous marketing.<\/li>\n<li>Destroyed documents.\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_3292\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3292\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/tobacco-lawsuit-20150601.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"3292\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?attachment_id=3292\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/tobacco-lawsuit-20150601.jpg?fit=620%2C349&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"620,349\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"tobacco-lawsuit-20150601\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/tobacco-lawsuit-20150601.jpg?fit=474%2C266&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-image-3292 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/tobacco-lawsuit-20150601.jpg?resize=474%2C266&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"tobacco-lawsuit-20150601\" width=\"474\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/tobacco-lawsuit-20150601.jpg?resize=500%2C281&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/tobacco-lawsuit-20150601.jpg?resize=100%2C56&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/tobacco-lawsuit-20150601.jpg?resize=200%2C113&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/tobacco-lawsuit-20150601.jpg?w=620&amp;ssl=1 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3292\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lise Blais holds up a photograph of her husband, Jean-Yves Blais, who died from lung cancer after launching one of the two lawsuits, during a news conference on Monday in Montreal. (Paul Chiasson\/The Canadian Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I&#8217;m not clear just how many plaintiffs there are (this sounds something like the Engle class action lawsuit in Florida), but according to the CBC, possibly as many as 1 million smokers and former smokers in Quebec will receive varying settlements. Here is the breakdown:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The plaintiffs with cancer\u00a0who began smoking before January 1976 will get $100,000 each. Those\u00a0who first lit up after that date are entitled\u00a0to $90,000.<\/p>\n<p>Those with emphysema will receive $30,000 in moral damages if they began smoking before Jan. 1, 1976, and $24,000 if they started smoking after that date.<\/p>\n<p>For the almost one million Quebec smokers who were unable to quit, the breakdown comes out to about\u00a0$130 per person.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>From a wife of a smoker who died:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p id=\"yui_3_11_0_1_1433205598570_30\">&#8220;I am so relieved with what has happened,&#8221; Lise Blais,\u00a0whose husband\u00a0Jean-Yves\u00a0Blais\u00a0initiated one of the\u00a0lawsuits,\u00a0told a crowd at a news conference.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Did you stop to think what a cigarette is? It destroys you \u2014 your health is totally destroyed,&#8221; she said, holding up two photos of her late husband, who died in the summer of 2012 from lung cancer at the age of 68.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p id=\"yui_3_11_0_1_1433205598570_33\">The companies plan to appeal. A lawyer for one of the companies made the weaseling comment that since the 1950s, Canadians have known the health danger from cigarettes. Hey, Pro-tip to weasel tobacco lawyer &#8230; tobacco lawyers have been trying to use that excuse since the beginning of Time, and for the past 20 years, it hasn&#8217;t saved their asses in court. You guys went to considerable time and expense to create doubt in smokers&#8217; minds about the dangers of smoking, and the bill is coming due for your decades of lies and cover-ups.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Big story out of Canada! Thanks very much to my friend Classical Gas for the tip. A court in Quebec today ordered three Canadian tobacco companies &#8212;\u00a0Imperial Tobacco, Rothmans\u00a0Benson &amp; Hedges and JTI-MacDonald &#8212; to pay $15 billion Canadian for &#8220;moral&#8221; and &#8220;punitive&#8221; damages. This lawsuit began way back in 2012, but the roots of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3290\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Quebec court: Tobacco companies must pay $15 billion in damages to as many as 1 million people<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[520,73],"tags":[103,521,616],"class_list":["post-3290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canada","category-tobacco-litigation","tag-canada","tag-quebec","tag-tobacco-litigation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/boy-holding-canadian-flag.jpg?fit=984%2C373&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-R4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3602,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3602","url_meta":{"origin":3290,"position":0},"title":"Canadian court orders tobacco companies to immediately set aside $1 billion for class-action suit","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"November 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This story comes out of Quebec.\u00a0The Quebec Court of Appeal has ordered two tobacco companies -- Imperial Tobacco and Rothmans Benson & Hedges -- to basically not pussyfoot around and immediately set aside $1 billion Canadian for plaintiffs in a massive class-action lawsuit. I wrote about this several months ago.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Canada&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Canada","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=520"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/cigarettepacks.jpg?fit=584%2C358&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/cigarettepacks.jpg?fit=584%2C358&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/cigarettepacks.jpg?fit=584%2C358&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":769,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=769","url_meta":{"origin":3290,"position":1},"title":"Oregon Supreme Court came, saw, then kicks Philip Morris&#8217; ASS","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"December 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Philip Morris got its ass handed to it by the Oregon Supreme Court, which shockingly (to me, because the good guys rarely win these cases, at least completely win) upheld a jury award to the widow of a smoker killed by lung cancer. The Supreme Court ruled that Philip Morris\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Big Tobacco&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Big Tobacco","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/oregonian.jpg?fit=380%2C250&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2371,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2371","url_meta":{"origin":3290,"position":2},"title":"Duh! story of the day. $23.6 billion judgement against RJ Reynolds unlikely to hold up","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"July 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I talked about this in a post the other day. A jury last week awarded $23.6 billion in punitive damages against RJ Reynolds in one of the thousands of Engle cases in Florida. I said that dollar amount would likely never hold up on appeal. Well, sure enough, some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Engle case&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Engle case","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=24"},"img":{"alt_text":"camel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/camel.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2365,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2365","url_meta":{"origin":3290,"position":3},"title":"RJ Reynolds loses $23.6 billion jury judgement","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"July 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow, this is a big \"wow.\" A big wow that will likely get reduced upon appeal. In one of the thousands of Engle liability cases in Florida, a jury awarded a settlement of $23.6 billion (yeah, billion) in favor of one of the 8,000 Engle plaintiffs. (The Engle decision was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Engle case&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Engle case","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=24"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cigarettes-burning-via-AFP-615x345","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Cigarettes-burning-via-AFP-615x345-300x168.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1157,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=1157","url_meta":{"origin":3290,"position":4},"title":"R.J. Reynolds quietly loses $37.5 million judgement","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"August 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This story didn't get as much attention as I would've have expected, I think because it's actually becoming routine. A jury last week awarded a family who lost their wife and mother to lung cancer in 1995 after years of smoking a $37.5 award from R.J. Reynolds. This judgement is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Engle case&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Engle case","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=24"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/r-GROSSMAN-large570.jpg?fit=570%2C238&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/r-GROSSMAN-large570.jpg?fit=570%2C238&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/r-GROSSMAN-large570.jpg?fit=570%2C238&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3719,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3719","url_meta":{"origin":3290,"position":5},"title":"Federal judge tells Big Tobacco, &#8220;quit wasting my damn time&#8221;","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a great story. I've posted earlier stories about as part of a Justice Department RICO (a federal racketeering law usually used against organized crime) lawsuit, Big Tobacco was ordered some time ago to come up with \"corrective statements,\" ie, full-age newspaper ads admitting that tobacco companies have lied\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Big Tobacco&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Big Tobacco","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/jp-tobacco-articleLarge.jpg?fit=600%2C274&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/jp-tobacco-articleLarge.jpg?fit=600%2C274&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/jp-tobacco-articleLarge.jpg?fit=600%2C274&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3290"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3294,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290\/revisions\/3294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}