Canada court orders tobacco firms to pay smokers Can$15.5 bn

Yahoo – AFP, 2 June 2015 

A Canadian court ordered tobacco firms to pay Can$15.5 billion to smokers

 in Quebec province who claimed they were never warned about the health

 risks associated with smoking (AFP Photo/Aris Messinis)

Ottawa (AFP) - A Canadian court on Monday ordered tobacco firms to pay Can$15.5 billion (US12.4 billion) to smokers in Quebec province who claimed they were never warned about the health risks associated with smoking.

Imperial Tobacco, Rothmans Benson & Hedges and JTI-MacDonald said they would appeal the award for moral and punitive damages, which is the largest in Canadian history.

The two class action lawsuits behind the award were originally filed in 1998, but only went to trial recently. They represent nearly one million smokers who were unable to quit or who suffer from throat or lung cancer, or emphysema.

The plaintiffs argued that the companies neglected to properly warn their customers about the dangers of smoking, and failed in their general duty "not to cause injury to another person," according to the Quebec Superior Court decision.

They also accused the firms of unscrupulous marketing and of destroyed documents relevant to the case.

The companies said the court's decision is not supported by the evidence presented at trial, and vowed to try to overturn it on appeal.

"Since the 1950s, Canadians have had a very high awareness of the health risks of smoking," JTI-Macdonald said in a statement.

"That awareness has been reinforced by the health warnings printed on every legal cigarette package for more than 40 years."

Related Article:

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“…  The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. ...”