Three major tobacco companies are seeking to extend a court order that has suspended legal proceedings against them as they continue negotiations on a settlement with creditors in a high-profile case. The case involves an order for the companies to pay billions to over 100,000 smokers and their families.<\/p>\n
The companies \u2014 JTI-Macdonald Corp.<\/strong>, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges<\/strong>, and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd.<\/strong> \u2014 have filed documents in an Ontario court requesting an extension of the stay on legal actions until March 2025. The request was initially scheduled for a hearing on Tuesday but has been postponed to October 31, with the current stay extended until then. The previous order was set to expire today.<\/p>\n The legal suspension was first granted in 2019, following the companies’ loss of an appeal in a landmark Quebec lawsuit. The stay is intended to preserve the status quo while the tobacco companies negotiate a comprehensive settlement with class-action members and other creditors, including provincial governments seeking compensation for healthcare costs related to smoking.<\/p>\n The stay, initially meant to last only a few months, has now been renewed more than a dozen times. Settlement negotiations have remained confidential throughout the process, which has been ongoing for more than five years.<\/p>\n Several health advocacy groups have raised concerns over the delays and lack of transparency, arguing that Canada risks missing a significant opportunity to enforce stronger regulations and smoking reduction initiatives. Some critics further contend that the creditor protection process in this case prioritizes industry viability over public health.<\/p>\n The tobacco companies sought creditor protection in Ontario after Quebec’s Court of Appeal ordered them to pay over $15 billion to approximately 100,000 Quebecers involved in two class-action lawsuits. The cases represented individuals who started smoking between 1950 and 1998 and either developed health issues or became addicted, as well as their heirs.<\/p>\n Court documents from last year indicate that hundreds of class-action members have passed away since the creditor protection process began.<\/p>\n Source: Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tobacco Giants Seek Extension on Legal Proceedings: Settlement Talks with 100,000 Smokers at Stake Three major tobacco companies are seeking to extend a court order that has suspended legal proceedings against them as they continue negotiations on a settlement with creditors in a high-profile case. The case involves an order for the companies to pay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,3],"tags":[4310,4311,4312,4313,4314,4315,4316,59,4317,3097,40,4318,4319,4320,4321,4322,4323,4324,4325],"class_list":["post-1482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-health","tag-and-imperial-tobacco-canada-ltd","tag-benson-hedges","tag-canadian-tobacco-industry","tag-class-action-lawsuit","tag-creditor-protection","tag-imperial-tobacco-canada","tag-jti-macdonald-corp","tag-legal-proceedings","tag-macdonald-corp","tag-ola","tag-ontario-court","tag-public-health-concerns","tag-quebec-smoking-case","tag-rothmans","tag-rothmans-benson-hedges","tag-settlement-negotiations","tag-smoking-regulations","tag-smoking-related-health-care-costs","tag-tobacco-companies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1482\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}