Canadians can now submit claims for up to $100K in tobacco class-action settlement
If you or a family member has experienced the harmful effects of smoking, you can now submit a claim for a “historic” settlement in a tobacco class-action lawsuit.
The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) announced on Thursday that the $32.5-billion tobacco settlement has been finalized and will be implemented on Friday, Aug. 29.
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.
Earlier this year, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved the multibillion-dollar settlement. The QCTH said this ended years of uncertainty and established 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 in March.
Who’s eligible and how much can you get from the tobacco class-action settlement?
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Aug. 29 also marks the beginning of the claims submission process for individual victims of lung cancer, throat cancer, and emphysema.
The QCTH said 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 must 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.
Provinces and territories will also be sent their first payment of $24.7 billion in total payments on Friday.
“It is essential that provincial/territorial governments allocate a significant proportion of these new funds to strengthen government tobacco control strategies,” stated CCS senior policy analyst Rob Cunningham. “Governments have a historic opportunity to reduce tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of disease and death in Canada.”
How to submit a claim
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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 Jan. 1, 1950, and Nov. 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).
Members of the Quebec class action will have 12 months to file a claim, while individual victims across Canada outside the Quebec class action will have 24 months to file a claim.
For more information on the claims process, visit the websites linked above.