{"id":3602,"date":"2015-11-06T04:34:36","date_gmt":"2015-11-06T04:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3602"},"modified":"2015-11-06T04:34:36","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T04:34:36","slug":"canadian-court-orders-tobacco-companies-to-immediately-set-aside-1-billion-for-class-action-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3602","title":{"rendered":"Canadian court orders tobacco companies to immediately set aside $1 billion for class-action suit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"cigarettepacks\"<\/a>
Canadian cigarette brands<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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<\/a> Canadian for plaintiffs in a massive class-action lawsuit.<\/p>\n

I wrote about this several months ago.<\/a> These two tobacco companies, plus a third company — JTI Macdonald — lost a $15 billion class-action lawsuit in June\u00a0for misleading marketing, and for lying about \u00a0and covering up the health effects of their cigarettes. The case could benefit up to 1 million Quebec smokers who could cash in on the class-action litigation. \u00a0It is by far the biggest court victory against tobacco companies in Canada.<\/p>\n

That decision is being appealed as expected. However, in the meantime, the Quebec court ordered two of the three companies to set up a $1 billion fund to immediately start paying out installments to some of the plaintiffs. This prevents the companies from putting off — possibly for several years — \u00a0making these class-action payments.<\/p>\n

From a CBC News article:<\/p>\n

“It is not acceptable that appellants merely say that they have no funds to satisfy the judgment or an order to furnish security and continue to distribute earnings because that is ‘business as usual,'” Court of Appeal Justice Mark Schrager said in his ruling.<\/p>\n

“I do not question appellants’ right to appeal but neither can I stand idly by while appellants pursue an appeal which will benefit them if they win but which will not operate to their detriment if they lose.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From the same article. The tobacco companies are not happy about the ruling. Boo hoo. In a released statement about the court decision:<\/p>\n

“Imperial Tobacco Canada … does not believe it should have to secure a payment before all appeals are exhausted and a final judgment is rendered.\u00a0Imperial Tobacco Canada continues to disagree with the overall judgment rendered by the Superior Court of Quebec. It is unjustified to hold legal manufacturers responsible for the personal choices of adult consumers and it will continue to defend that position as its appeals proceed before the courts.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Just out of curiosity, I looked into who really owns Imperial Tobacco of Canada, Rothmans Benson & Hedges and JTI Macdonald, because I know there’s really only a handful of major tobacco companies in the whole world.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, I was right. Imperial Tobacco is a subsidiary of British America Tobacco, the No. 2\u00a0tobacco company in the world. Rothmans Benson & Hedges is a subsidiary of Philip Morris, the No. 1 tobacco company in the world,\u00a0and JTI Macdonald is part of Japan Tobacco, which bought out many of the RJ Reynolds brands such as Camel outside of the U.S. and is the No. 3 tobacco company in the world. I swear, it comes down to a handful of worldwide companies, it really does.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. These two tobacco companies, plus … Continue reading Canadian court orders tobacco companies to immediately set aside $1 billion for class-action suit<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[520,736],"tags":[103,521],"class_list":["post-3602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canada","category-quebec","tag-canada","tag-quebec"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/cigarettepacks.jpg?fit=584%2C358&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-W6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3290,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3290","url_meta":{"origin":3602,"position":0},"title":"Quebec court: Tobacco companies must pay $15 billion in damages to as many as 1 million people","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"June 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"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 --\u00a0Imperial Tobacco, Rothmans\u00a0Benson & Hedges and JTI-MacDonald -- to pay $15 billion Canadian for \"moral\" and \"punitive\" damages. This lawsuit began way back in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Canada"","block_context":{"text":"Canada","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=520"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/boy-holding-canadian-flag.jpg?fit=984%2C373&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/boy-holding-canadian-flag.jpg?fit=984%2C373&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/boy-holding-canadian-flag.jpg?fit=984%2C373&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/boy-holding-canadian-flag.jpg?fit=984%2C373&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3691,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3691","url_meta":{"origin":3602,"position":1},"title":"Class-action lawsuit planned against American Spirit cigarettes","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"January 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This story is actually a few weeks old, but I just now heard of it. I found out about it while arguing with someone who claims that American Spirit cigarettes are better for you than other brands (The FDA has warned American Spirit to stop with its \"natural\" and \"additive-free\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Spirit"","block_context":{"text":"American Spirit","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=704"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/American-Spirit.jpg?fit=386%2C613&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3896,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3896","url_meta":{"origin":3602,"position":2},"title":"Tony Gwynn’s family files wrongful death lawsuit against Philip Morris","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"May 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Interesting story and the first time I'm aware of (I wouldn't doubt it has happened before, but it's the first I've heard of it) of family suing the tobacco industry because a loved one likely died of someone who died from a chewing habit, rather than a smoking habit, Tony\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Altria"","block_context":{"text":"Altria","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tony-gwynn.jpg?fit=442%2C575&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2961,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2961","url_meta":{"origin":3602,"position":3},"title":"And speaking of John Oliver — Ireland fights back against tobacco industry over plain packaging","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A big focus of John Oliver's piece on the tobacco industry was how huge tobacco companies are fighting small nations trying to impose plain packaging laws for cigarettes. Oliver's piece specifically talked about Australia, which won its court case against Big Tobacco, Uruguay and Togo. Here's another country in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ireland"","block_context":{"text":"Ireland","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=312"},"img":{"alt_text":"743484-ireland-follows-australian-lead-on-smoking","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/743484-ireland-follows-australian-lead-on-smoking.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2365,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2365","url_meta":{"origin":3602,"position":4},"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 "Engle case"","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":3821,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3821","url_meta":{"origin":3602,"position":5},"title":"Class-action lawsuit filed to force automatic R rating for smoking in movies","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"March 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not sure how I feel about this, it certainly seems a bit extreme. But, an interesting tactic here, nonetheless. A class-action lawsuit was filed recently to force the MPAA to require an automatic \"R\" rating for any smoking in a movie. As it stands now, the MPAA has kind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hollywood"","block_context":{"text":"Hollywood","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=789"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Humphrey_Bogart_by_Karsh_Library_and_Archives_Canada.jpg?fit=386%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3602","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=3602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}