Canadians can claim up to $100,000 in settled tobacco class-action lawsuit
If you or someone you know has experienced the harmful effects of smoking, you might be able to claim a part of a “historic” settlement in a tobacco class-action lawsuit.
Last October, the Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health (QCTH) announced the filing of a proposed plan of arrangement from three major tobacco companies — JTI-Macdonald Corp.; Rothmans, Benson & Hedges; and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. — after they spent over five years in negotiations with their creditors.
On Thursday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved the settlement of the $32.5-billion tobacco lawsuit.
The QCTH says the court approval ends years of uncertainty and establishes a structured framework for distributing funds to victims, their heirs, and governments.
“It represents the culmination of more than 25 years of legal proceedings to ensure that tobacco victims receive compensation in recognition of the harm they have suffered,” the organization shared in a statement on Friday.
Eligibility and amounts for the tobacco class-action lawsuit settlement
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If approved, the organization says the plan will allow the distribution of substantial financial compensation to victims, their heirs, and their heirs’ heirs.
Under the plan, the tobacco companies will pay $4.1 billion to settle the claims of Quebec’s QCTH-Blais class-action victims. Eligible individuals need to have been diagnosed before March 12, 2012, and be alive as of Nov. 20, 1998.
Quebec class members will be entitled to financial compensation of up to $100,000 for throat or lung cancer and up to $30,000 for emphysema, according to the judgment.
The settlement will pay $2.5 billion to individual victims in other provinces and territories diagnosed with lung cancer, throat cancer, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease between March 8, 2015, and March 8, 2019. They would be compensated up to $60,000 each for lung or throat cancer and up to $18,000 for emphysema.
In addition, the tobacco companies will also donate $1 billion to create a charitable foundation combating smoking-related diseases.
“The plan would also put an end to legal proceedings initiated by provinces and territories against any tobacco companies and their foreign parent companies in order to recover healthcare costs related to tobacco use,” reads the QCTH’s initial announcement in October.
To do this, tobacco giants will pay close to $24.7 billion to provinces and territories over 20 years, including approximately $6.3 billion upfront, according to the judgment.
The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) and Heart & Stroke (H&S) were “social stakeholders” in the court proceedings. In a statement on Thursday, the CCS says its proposed changes to the settlement were denied.
“CCS had urged that the settlement be modified to restrict tobacco promotion and to require disclosure of eight million secret internal tobacco industry documents provided to provinces as part of pre-trial procedures,” reads the statement.
In January, the CCS said the settlement “falls massively short” with “insufficient public health measures.”
What the claims process will look like
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According to the QCTH, a start date for the claims period will be determined in the coming weeks.
A dedicated website has already been set up for eligible Quebec class members to submit compensation claims. There, claimants will find info about eligibility, required documents, and step-by-step instructions to submit their claim.
The class action lawyers and the Quebec government are also working on ways to ease access to medical records and official documents required for claims. Registrations for deceased individuals can be done by their heirs on the site or by phone without requiring a health insurance number.
The Pan-Canadian Claimants (PCC) Compensation Plan is in place for claims for Canadians outside of Quebec.
Under it, claimants or their representatives won’t need third-party lawyers to submit claims forms for the class-action lawsuit settlement.
It applies to anyone who:
- lives in any Province or Territory within Canada,
- was alive on March 8, 2019,
- smoked Twelve Pack-Years of cigarettes (i.e. at least 87,600 cigarettes) sold by the Canadian Tobacco Companies between January 1, 1950, and November 20, 1998,
- And was diagnosed in Canada with either Lung Cancer, Throat Cancer or Emphysema/COPD (GOLD Grades III or IV), between March 8, 2015 and March 8, 2019 (inclusive of those dates).