TORONTO – Three tobacco giants are again seeking to extend an order suspending legal proceedings against them as they negotiate a settlement with creditors in a long-running case involving an order to pay out billions to some 100,000 smokers and their loved ones.
Documents filed with an Ontario court show the companies — JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. — are asking for the stay of proceedings to remain in place until late March 2025.
The request was set to be heard Tuesday but court documents show it has been postponed until Oct. 31, with the stay extended until then. It was previously set to expire today.
The order to put legal proceedings against the companies on hold was first granted in early 2019 after the three lost an appeal in a landmark legal battle in Quebec.
The stay aims to maintain the status quo while the companies work out a global settlement with the class-action members and several other creditors, including provincial governments looking to recoup smoking-related health-care costs.
The initial stay of proceedings lasted a few months, but it has since been renewed roughly a dozen times. The negotiations are confidential.
Several health advocacy groups have voiced concerns about the delays and the lack of public information surrounding the case. They argue Canada could fumble what they consider a historic chance to impose regulations and smoking-reduction measures on the industry.
Some groups have further argued the creditor protection process is inherently problematic in this case because it focuses on industry viability rather than public health and other issues.
The companies sought creditor protection in Ontario after Quebec’s highest court ordered them to pay more than $15 billion to roughly 100,000 Quebecers in two class-action lawsuits.
The lawsuits involved smokers who took up the habit between 1950 and 1998 and either fell ill or were addicted, or involved their heirs.
Court filings from last September suggest hundreds of the class-action members have died since the creditor protection proceedings began.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2024.
