Long-running $20 billion Canadian class action ends

A class-action lawsuit that targets three Canadian tobacco manufacturers for nearly $20 billion ended yesterday after almost three years of testimony, according to a Canadian Television story.

Judgement was reserved.

While the trial began in March 2012, the legal proceedings date back to 1998.

The plaintiffs include an estimated one million Quebecers who argued the companies are liable because they knew they were putting out a harmful product and hid the health effects of tobacco.

The suit involves separate groups of plaintiffs – some who became seriously ill from smoking and others who said they couldn’t quit.

The defendants are Imperial Tobacco Canada; Rothmans, Benson & Hedges; and JTI-Macdonald.

They argued that the negative health effects of tobacco had been common knowledge for decades and that there was no conspiracy to conceal anything.

The Canadian Television story is at: http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/multibillion-dollar-lawsuit-against-big-tobacco-now-in-the-hands-of-judge-1.2143991

A blog that has been running since the beginning of the trial, Eye on the Trials, can be accessed here: http://tobaccotrial.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/day-253-every-party-has-ending-justice.html.