LEXPERT MAGAZINE
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APRIL 2019 13
IMPERIAL TOBACCO CANADA ET
AL. C. CONSEIL QUÉBÉCOIS SUR
LE TABAC ET LA SANTÉ ET AL.
DECISION DATE: MARCH 1, 2019
On March 1, 2019, the Court of Appeal for
Québec issued a judgment awarding over
$13.5 billion against Imperial Tobacco
Canada Limited ("ITCAN"), JTI-Mac-
donald Corp. ("JTI"), and Rothmans,
Benson & Hedges Inc. ("RBH") in the lar-
gest class proceeding in Canadian history.
e Letourneau and Blais actions, the
two underlying proceedings, were filed
separately in 1998 and heard together be-
ginning in 2012. e trial lasted over 251
days, with 76 witnesses and nearly 22,000
documents entered into evidence.
e trial judgment was released on May
27, 2015, and was appealed by all three to-
bacco companies. e appeal was heard by
a five-member panel of the Court of Ap-
peal for Québec in November 2016. On
March 1, 2019, the Court released a 400-
page decision largely upholding the trial
judgment and finding the defendant tobac-
co companies liable for failing to adequate-
ly warn consumers of the risks of smoking.
e Court of Appeal affirmed the award
of moral damages against all defendants in
the Blais action, calculating them at a max-
imum of $13.5 billion in the aggregate.
In addition, the Court of Appeal af-
firmed the trial judge's award of punitive
damages against each defendant in the
two underlying proceedings, totaling ap-
proximately $140 million in the aggregate.
Following the release of the appeal judg-
ment, JTI, ITCAN and RBH obtained
creditor protection under the Companies'
Creditors Arrangement Act from the On-
tario Superior Court of Justice (Commer-
cial List) on March 8, 12, and 22, 2019,
respectively. e "comeback hearing" for
all three proceedings was held on April 4
and 5, when the Court heard motions from
numerous stakeholders, confirmed the in-
itial orders granted to each of the tobacco
companies with some amendments, and
extended the stay of proceedings in favour
of all tobacco companies until June 28.
Deborah Glendinning, Craig Lock-
wood, Mahmud Jamal, and Alexandre Fal-
lon of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
acted for Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd.
Guy Pratte, AdE, François Grondin,
Patrick Plante and Kevin LaRoche of Bor-
den Ladner Gervais LLP and Catherine
Elizabeth McKenzie of IMK LLP repre-
sented JTI-Macdonald Corp.
Simon V. Potter, AdE, Michael Feder,
QC, and Pierre-Jérôme Bouchard of Mc-
Carthy Tétrault LLP acted for Roth-
mans, Benson & Hedges Inc.
André Lespérance, Philippe Hubert
Trudel, Bruce Johnston and Gabrielle Ga-
gné of Trudel Johnston & Lespérance,
Marc Beauchemin of De Grandpré Chait,
and Gordon Kugler and Pierre Boivin of
Kugler Kandestin represented Conseil
québécois sur le tabac et la santé, Jean-Yves
Blais et Cécilia Létourneau.
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