Jump to full article: Reuters, 2001-06-05
Author: Julie Remy
Intro: Joe Battaglia, a 59-year-old Toronto man who worked for 12 years as a salesman for Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., a unit of British American Tobacco (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BATS.L), was suing his former employer for negligent misrepresentation and failure to warn the public of the health hazards of its ``light'' Matinee brand.
After repeated attempts to stop smoking, he was diagnosed with a heart disease.
Judge Pamela Thompson said his ``chances to live another 10 years were not high''.
She agreed with Battaglia that figures indicating the levels of tar and nicotine on cigarette packages were misleading because they are calculated by a machine that doesn't reproduce actual smoking behavior, but she said Battaglia was the only one responsible for his continuing to smoke.
``Only he could decide to get rid of his dependency,'' she said in court.
Battaglia said he respected the judgment and would not appeal it. ``It's too bad. I thought I could make a difference,'' he told reporters.
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