The provincial government of Ontario, Canada, has filed a lawsuit in the United States against major tobacco companies, including Japan Tobacco Inc., seeking damages for tobacco-related health care costs.
The provincial government said Thursday it filed the lawsuit in New York City on Wednesday. Reuters news agency reported the defendants include Philip Morris Cos. Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. and JT.
Similar lawsuits have been filed by 46 U.S. states, with tobacco companies agreeing to $206 billion in settlements in 1998.
The Ontario government has not specified the amount of damages it is seeking but said tobacco use is "killing 12,000 Ontarians a year" and "costs Ontario billions in health care and related costs every year, making it a threat to the sustainability of Ontario's health care system."
The suit alleges the companies hid and manipulated information about the hazards of smoking and the addictive nature of nicotine, Reuters said.
The suit also alleges the companies were members of an international conspiracy which constituted "a scheme to defraud and cheat that lasted almost half a century and spread its shadow over North America and Europe."
The lawsuit has been brought under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970, which can provide damages three times the sum originally sought if a defendant is shown to have engaged in a pattern of wrongdoing.
In Tokyo, JT said, "At this moment, we cannot issue any comment." Given that JT has almost no sales record in Canada, the lawsuit may have targeted JT because of the overseas tobacco business it took over from RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. of the U.S. last May, a JT source said.
JT is currently facing 15 product-liability suits outside Japan. , with most having been inherited from Nabisco, the company said.