(An item published at 0633 BST misidentified the owner of Imperial Tobacco Canada. The correct version follows.)
LONDON (Alliance News) - A Canadian court has ordered three tobacco companies to pay CAD15.5 billion in a case involving Quebec smokers who claimed the firms had failed to warn them about the health risks associated with smoking, BBC News reports.
Imperial Tobacco Canada, a subsidiary of British America Tobacco PLC, Rothmans Benson & Hedges, owned by US group Philip Morris International Inc, and JTI-MacDonald, a unit of Japan Tobacco International, are the companies to have been fined and said they will appeal against the decision.
The class-action lawsuits failed on behalf of Quebec residents were originally filed in 1998 but only recent went to trial. The firms have argued that Canadians have had a "high awareness" of smoking health risks since the 1950s.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-32969338
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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