Tobacco.org

• B.C. court nixes Ottawa as party in tobacco suit 

The B.C. Supreme Court has struck down an effort to tie Ottawa to a class-action lawsuit against Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. over the health effects of so-called light or mild cigarettes.

Both the plaintiff, Kenneth Knight, and Imperial wanted the federal government as a third party in the case because it promoted light and mild smokes as a safer alternative to regular cigarettes.

But Justice Deborah Satanove ruled the government's actions were not enough to lump Ottawa into the suit under the narrow provisions where its normal immunity from civil suits can be lifted.

The class action, certified last year under the Business Practices and Consumers Protection Act, alleges Imperial used deceptive practices for years to sell light and mild cigarettes to consumers. . . .

Ottawa also was under no obligation to protect the business interests of the cigarette-maker, the judge found, because it would be inconsistent with its duty to protect the interests of the public at large.

"Canada did not create the risk to health, it merely attempted to regulate and reduce it," she said. "Once again, if it has been wrong or careless in how it has gone about it, that is for the political arena to determine."

Jump to full article »

Canada did not create the risk to health, it merely attempted to regulate and reduce it. . . . [I]f it has been wrong or careless in how it has gone about it, that is for the political arena to determine.
BC Supreme Court Justice Deborah Satanove, in her ruling denying tobacco defendants' request to bring in the federal government as a third party because, Defendants claimed, it promoted light and mild smokes as a safer alternative to regular cigarettes.