Quebec judge says major tobacco firms must also stand in health-care suit

MONTREAL – A Quebec judge has ruled that foreign-based parent tobacco companies are not immune from a lawsuit launched by the provincial government to recoup health costs.

The major international firms tried to get out of the lawsuit by arguing the provincial court didn’t have any jurisdiction over them.

But Justice Stephane Sansfacon wrote in a ruling dated July 4 that the major parent tobacco companies and their Canadian subsidiaries can be sued.

He says Quebec Superior Court is the right forum to hear the case involving the 11 companies and associations targeted by the suit.

The ruling can be appealed by the companies.

The $60-billion lawsuit was filed in June 2012 and is aimed at recouping health-care costs.

Quebec has argued the tobacco companies did not do enough to inform consumers about the risks of smoking as they ramped up the marketing of the products.

Some of the firms have said the provincial government has been licensing and taxing the industry for decades and now is simply trying to cash in.

Almost every province in Canada has filed a similar lawsuit. Only Nova Scotia has not done so,but it has announced it will.

Quebec’s $60-billion suit is different from a landmark $27-billion suit in the province that is believed to be the biggest class-action ever seen in Canada.

That case, which is ongoing, pits an estimated 1.8 million Quebecers against three major Canadian tobacco manufacturers. The parent companies are not being sued.