The Quebec Superior Court (Canada) ordered three tobacco companies to pay a record-high compensation worth 15.5 billion Canadian dollars ($12.4 billion) in damages to Quebec smokers. That is the largest award for damages in the history of Canada.
The smokers field class-action lawsuits against JTI-MacDonald, Benson & Hedges, Rothmans, and Imperial Tobacco back in 1998, but legal proceedings began only in March 2012.
This is mainly about lawsuits commenced by two groups which represent one million smokers in Quebec. All these people state that consumption of aforementioned companies' products caused damage to their health. The first group of claimants said that they suffer from addiction and are unable to give up smoking. The second group includes victims of smoking-related diseases.
The overall income of the above-mentioned companies totals tens of billions US dollars every year. Thus, in 2012, it reportedly reached $315 billion which is comparable to the annual GDP of Denmark or Israel.
