Quebec Provisional Execution order cancelled

Unanimous decision from Quebec Court of Appeal

Imperial Tobacco Canada, British American Tobacco plc’s Canadian subsidiary and the Canadian subsidiaries of Philip Morris International and Japan Tobacco International, yesterday had their request to cancel a CAD$1.1 billion provisional execution order granted by the Quebec Court of Appeal.

Three Quebec Court of Appeal judges unanimously cancelled the order after Imperial Tobacco Canada and the other defendants argued there was no legal basis for the provisional execution order.

The provisional execution order was imposed by the Superior Court of Quebec as part of a CAD$15.6 billion judgement in two Class Action cases, issued on June 1st 2015.

Jerome Abelman, Group Director, Legal & External Affairs for British American Tobacco said:

“We are pleased to see Imperial Tobacco Canada’s arguments prevail so convincingly with the cancellation of an unprecedented and legally unjustified provisional execution order”.

Imperial Tobacco Canada will now focus on its appeal at the Quebec Court of Appeal against the original Superior Court of Quebec Class Action judgement issued on 1st June 2015 which the company argues ignored the reality that both adult consumers and governments have known about the risks associated with smoking for decades.

Mr Abelman concluded: “Imperial Tobacco Canada has informed us that it is concentrating on continuing its appeal against the substantive elements of the original ruling and that the team is confident its legal arguments will ultimately prevail.”

This Court of Appeal process is expected to conclude in the next two-to-three years with a potential further appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

British American Tobacco plc was not a party to the proceeding and is not a party to the original judgement.