As part of a court-appointed mediator’s proposed plan, cigarette manufacturers Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, and Japan Tobacco will pay C$32.5 billion ($23.6 billion) to settle a long-running tobacco lawsuit in Canada, Philip Morris announced on Friday.
In 2015, a Quebec court granted damages to about 100,000 smokers and ex-smokers who claimed the firms knew their product was causing cancer and other illnesses since the 1950s and failed to appropriately warn customers, dealing a severe blow to the Canadian subsidiaries of the three tobacco giants.
The 2015 ruling that gave smokers in the Canadian province over C$15 billion was upheld by a Quebec court in 2019 following an appeal, compelling the Canadian subsidiaries of all three businesses to file for bankruptcy.
Since then, the subsidiaries have been negotiating a potential settlement through a mediation procedure overseen by the court.
According to Philip Morris, the tobacco titans have not yet agreed on how to allot the total settlement cash.
Laptops 1000Philip Morris CEO Jacek Olczak said in a statement on Friday, “We are hopeful that this legal process will soon conclude, allowing RBH (Rothmans, Benson & Hedges) and its stakeholders to focus on the future, even though important issues with the plan remain to be resolved.”
Philip Morris’ Canadian division is called Rothmans, Benson & Hedges.
Earlier on Friday, British American Tobacco stated that the suggested strategy was a step in the right direction toward a solution. Philip Morris provided more specifics about the idea than this document did.
