Tobacco.org

Imperial Tobacco Wins Battaglia Case in Ontario Small Claims Court 

Imperial Tobacco expressed satisfaction today that the Ontario Small Claims Court had rendered a decision to the effect that it was not liable for damages allegedly caused to Mr. Joseph Battaglia. . .

Mme Justice Pamela Thompson, who presided the trial, rendered her decision from the bench today. Speaking on behalf of Imperial, Don McCarty, Vice-President, Law, said: "This decision confirms the validity of our key arguments in this case, namely that there is nothing about our products which prevented Mr. Battaglia from quitting smoking, as indeed he has done numerous times in the past, and that his heart condition pre-dated his smoking Imperial's products."

Jump to full article »

Tobacco case ruling expected today 

A judge will rule today on a Toronto man's fight against Canada's largest tobacco company, in a case closely followed by governments and anti-smoking groups.

Joe Battaglia, 59, a former cigarette salesperson, is optimistic he'll win his lawsuit against Imperial Tobacco Canada, which claims 70 per cent of the market.

It's the first case brought to trial against a tobacco company in Ontario.

``I'm very excited,'' Battaglia said in a recent interview. ``I feel very fortunate that I have an opportunity to make a difference in this world.''

Battaglia alleges the Matinee Extra Mild cigarettes he smoked for six years were secretly designed to deliver more nicotine and toxins than the packages indicated. . .

Battaglia is suing for $6,000, the maximum allowed in small claims court.

Jump to full article »

Cigarette company shifting blame to government, smokers in Toronto court case 

Imperial Tobacco Canada is trying to shift the blame to the federal government and smokers for its failure to warn that mild cigarettes aren't necessarily safer, a court was told Tuesday.

"If you are going to sell a product that causes disease . . . before someone lies in a hospital bed sick you have got to give them all the information," lawyer Doug Lennox said in his closing statement. Joseph Battaglia claims the Matinee Extra Milds he smoked for six years packed a far higher tar and nicotine punch than stated on the package. . .

But Imperial, which holds 70 per cent of the national market, says that the tar and nicotine levels posted on the packages were standard measures that complied with government rules and that the firm never tried to deceive anyone. . .

"This is not a commission of inquiry" into the tobacco industry but about one man blaming a brand for his inability to quit, Barnes said.

"He's the victim of his own choices," Barnes told Justice Pamela Thomson, in his closing argument.

Jump to full article »

Tobacco firm knew danger, court told 

Imperial Tobacco Canada is trying to shift the blame to the federal government and smokers for its failure to warn them that mild cigarettes aren't necessarily safer, a court was told.

``If you are going to sell a product that causes disease . . . before someone lies in a hospital bed, sick, you have got to give them all the information,'' Doug Lennox, lawyer for Joseph Battaglia, said in closing statements. . .

Lennox said Imperial Tobacco executives have testified that in the 1980s, they had a ``private epiphany'' that cigarette smoking could be harmful, but they did not share that revelation with consumers.

Jump to full article »

• Anyone can quit smoking, trial told 

A U.S. expert on substance abuse testifying for Imperial Tobacco Canada says cigarettes are not truly addictive and anyone can quit if they're motivated.

The word addiction is no longer employed in a medical context because it's overused and applied in society to such behaviour as eating chocolates and watching bad movies, testified Dr. Harvey Hammer, chair of the department of psychiatry at Morristown Memorial Hospital in New Jersey.

``The implication is the person has no choice, that a person has no free will,'' Hammer told a North York small claims court yesterday. . .

Quitting smoking more like giving up caffeine than drugs, expert testifies

Hammer, who confirmed he is being paid his usual rate of $7,500 (U.S.) a day over two days for attending and testifying, said the term substance dependency is preferable to addiction.

People too often say ``I am addicted and I can't do anything about it and I find that frankly alarming. We are somehow suggesting that to people when we call it addiction,'' he said. . .

Hammer testified all the patients he treats who are genuinely motivated to quit have been successful.

He said people who want to recover from a substance dependency must start by saying, `` `I am responsible for my own behaviour.' That's a basic psychological concept.''

Jump to full article »

`Elastic' cigarettes studied, official says 

Imperial Tobacco Canada has done research into ``elastic'' cigarettes that deliver a relatively high tar and nicotine hit when puffed harder, but it would never try to sell them, a top company official says.

``It was to find out what consumers are looking for in their product,'' Donald Brown, chairman and former chief executive of Imperial Tobacco Canada, said yesterday.

Brown was testifying in a North York court at the first case ever brought to trial against a tobacco company in Ontario . .

Yesterday, Stewart Massey, Imperial's director of scientific affairs, testified that the research on cigarette ``elasticity'' was conducted only in 1993 on foreign products and hasn't been looked at since.

Brown testified that Imperial Tobacco Canada is developing a safer cigarette. . .

Under cross-examination by Battaglia's lawyer, Doug Lennox, Brown said Imperial Tobacco saw no need to change the health warnings on its packages to inform consumers that some ``mild or light'' cigarettes could deliver a much higher tar and nicotine dose, depending on how they were smoked.

``Our research showed that smokers were well aware'' of the issue, Brown said.

Jump to full article »

• Safer smokes stifled, court is told 

British American Tobacco resisted efforts by its Canadian subsidiary, Imasco, to develop a safer cigarette in the 1980s, Imasco's former chief executive testified yesterday.

Purdy Crawford said although the Imasco board was very keen to develop the safer cigarette, it was disappointed it wasn't able to convince its minority owner, British American Tobacco (BAT) of London, to lend its support and expertise to the project.

Crawford told a North York small claims court yesterday that Jean Louis Mercier, then chief executive of Imasco-owned Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., ``was frustrated in dealing with his contemporaries at BAT.''

``He was crestfallen, as I recall.'' . .

Crawford told Battaglia's lawyer, Doug Lennox, that he didn't order anyone at Imperial Tobacco to inform Health Canada about research pointing to a possibly safer cigarette. As head of Imasco, he had no day-to-day control of the subsidiary and it wasn't his style to give it orders, he said.

Jump to full article »

Ex-smoke salesman slams nicotine `manipulation' 

When Joseph Battaglia started smoking Matinee Extra Milds in 1994, he thought the low tar and nicotine levels stated on their packs would help him quit, yet he was pleased they seemed to answer his nicotine cravings.

``They gave me a satisfaction. They surprised me,'' he testified yesterday.

But the former cigarette salesman said he was furious when he found out a few years later the toxin levels he was inhaling were likely much higher.

``They were manipulating the nicotine levels,'' he testified, calling it ``a manipulation of my addiction.''

In a trial closely watched by the tobacco industry and anti-smoking groups, Battaglia, 59, is suing Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. for $6,000 in damages in small claims court, alleging the company designed a cigarette with minuscule holes on the side to give a false low reading in tests.

``It's the cigarette of the guy who wants to quit. That's why it's so successful,'' the Toronto paralegal said.

Jump to full article »

Smoker accuses tobacco firm of deceptionSuing after he developed heart disease 

Joseph Battaglia says he was fooled for years by the packaging on his Matinee Extra Milds into believing he was smoking a safer cigarette that might help him quit, a court has been told.

Now the 59-year-old Toronto man is suing Imperial Tobacco Ltd. for $6,000 in general damages in small claims court, saying he developed coronary heart disease as a result of smoking the cigarettes.

`It's about a consumer that didn't get what he thought he was getting'

``It's about a consumer that didn't get what he thought he was getting and it's about a manufacturer who denies any liability for what appears on its package,'' Doug Lennox, Battaglia's lawyer, said in his opening statement yesterday.

Jump to full article »

• Mild cigarettes deceptively dangerous, charges lawsuit against big tobacco 

A former tobacco executive was back in court Monday for the start of his David-and-Goliath trial against cigarette giant Imperial Tobacco that alleges mild cigarettes are deceptively dangerous.

Joseph Battaglia, 59, alleges that Imperial misled the public and failed to warn smokers about the risks of so-called mild cigarettes. Battaglia filed his suit in small claims court three years ago because proceedings there are generally quick and inexpensive.

"Joe can't afford to sue big tobacco, nobody can," said Douglas Lennox, a lawyer with Toronto's Rochon Geneva who stepped in to represent Battaglia free of charge after the case had dragged on for two years.

Battaglia is seeking $6,000 in damages, the maximum allowable in small claims court. He also wants Imperial to be honest about the risk of its product and "devote considerable resources to developing safer cigarettes." . .

Neil Collishaw, research director for Physicians for a Smoke-free Canada, told court that two factors make Imperial's Matinee Extra Mild cigarette's deceivingly dangerous.

The package claims that Battaglia's cigarette of choice contains 0.4 milligrams of nicotine, and lab tests confirm this amount. But the suit alleges that the amount a smoker actually gets is six times higher than that.

Jump to full article »