Tobacco lawsuits given go-ahead
Source: Montreal Gazette (ca), 2005-02-21
Author: William Marsden Montreal Gazette
Intro:
In a landmark decision that questions the very legality of marketing tobacco products, the Quebec Superior Court has allowed two potentially crippling class action lawsuits to proceed against Canada's big three tobacco companies.
In his 40-page decision handed down Monday, Judge Pierre Jasmin questioned the entire basis of the tobacco industry declaring that there is "no useful purpose" for cigarettes.
"What smoker or non-smoker could argue that cigarettes are useful? On the contrary, cigarettes are not only totally useless but also dangerous and have created a large number of serious health problems such as emphysema, cancer and heart problems.
"A jubilant Bruce Johnston, who represents one of the two class actions, said the judge has essentially accepted his argument that "it is a civil fault to market this product because it addicts people and kills them."
