This morning permission was granted to extend insolvency protection to tobacco multinationals into a sixth year.  Little information on the details of the settlement under discussion among the companies and the governments and smokers who are suing them was provided during the half hour hearing before Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morowetz. In quick succession, lawyers for Imperial Tobacco (British American Tobacco), Rothmans, Benson & Hedges (Philip Morris International) and JTI-Macdonald (Japan Tobacco) stood to affirm that the companies were acting "in good faith ..read more

Those who tuned in at 10:30 Wednesday morning to the video-link of the Ontario Superior Court session before Justice Geoffrey B. Morawetz expecting to see another rubber stamping process in the tobacco companies' CCAA proceedings were in for a big surprise.  This was Justice Morawetz' first appearance on these proceedings, and he used the opportunity to force a new process on the proceedings. As well as granting the tobacco companies' unopposed request for another 6 month extension to their litigation, he is imposing an arbitration-like process to develop a road-map out. The 'neutral' mo ..read more

When the parties to the long-going insolvency proceedings for Canada's tobacco companies convene on September 27th , a new judge will be deciding whether to allow yet another 6-month time out on the lawsuits facing Canada's tobacco companies. Ontario's chief justice, the Hon. Geoffrey B. Morawetz  assumed responsibility for this file after Justice Thomas McEwen retired this summer. Already some of the paperwork has been filed in advance of this hearing by the three tobacco companies and also by lawyers for Quebec smokers whose court award of $13+ billion has lain in limbo since these ..read more

Yesterday Justice McEwen made public that he will be retiring at the end of June and that "Chief Justice Morawetz has agreed to assume case management of these CCAA matters ..read more

Another virtual hearing before Justice Thomas McEwen of the Ontario Supreme Court took place this morning to decide how long the suspension of lawsuits against Canada's tobacco companies would be extended. The hearing ended without an immediate decision - but perhaps shed some light on a process that has been obscured from public gaze for most of the past 4 years. The background All lawsuits against the three major tobacco companies have been suspended since March 2019. This Ontario court order was the result of the companies asking for and receiving protection under the federal insolvency law ..read more

and an argument about protecting "future victims"  The insolvency protection for Canada's three large tobacco companies now seems set to enter its fifth year. Notice has been given that a hearing to extend the litigation stay will take place on March 28th at 11:00 a.m.. Another hearing is set for April 14th to consider the request of the Heart and Stroke Foundation for one more seat to be placed at the negotiating table - this one to represent the interests of  "future tobacco harm" victims. Getting ready for year 5 It was in early March 2019 that  JTI-Macdonald b ..read more

Last month the B.C. Supreme Court gave its stamp of approval to a settlement reached earlier in 2022 among all Canadian provinces and Purdue Pharma to resolve the governments' claims over wrongful actions in the selling of opioids. Until the full text of that settlement is made public, this ruling provides the greatest detail on what the provinces were willing to accept to release Purdue Pharma from further responsibility for its marketing of Oxycontin. Although provincial governments were collectively claiming CAD $85 billion (US$67 billion), they settled for $150 million. Two addit ..read more

In a now familiar pattern, Justice MacEwen's court quickly arrived at a decision to give Canada's 3 large tobacco companies a further 6 month extension on insolvency protection. All lawsuits and other claims against them are stayed until March 31, 2022. Between 10:13 and 10:31, his virtual courtroom was in session. Youtube noted that 28 people watched the proceedings which involved an even larger number participating in the Zoom call that now substitutes for an in-person court hearing.  During those 18 minutes, 6 lawyers representing each of the companies and each of their accounting-firm ..read more

In only 9 days (September 30) the current time-out ("stay") on lawsuits against Canada's 3 large tobacco companies will expire. In only 6 days (September 27th) the Ontario court which is charged with setting the terms (if any) of their insolvency protection will convene to hear a request for another 6 month extention. Court rules require the documents for this hearing to be made public. Those available to date are linked below: Companies' motions for extension JTI Macdonald Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Imperial Tobacco Monitor's Reports: Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Imperial Tobacco JTI M ..read more

 Say this for Justice Thomas McEwen's management of the insolvency protection for Canada's Big Three Tobacco Companies: he is efficient. It took little more than half an hour for his court to extend insolvency protection for the companies -- adding another 6 months to the two years that have already passed since the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled they had to compensate some of the Quebec smoekrs they injured.  Despite the enormity of the case (Justice McEwen described it as "one of the largest if not the largest restructuring cases in Canada's history") and despite the army of lawyers ..read more