TORONTO — One of three major tobacco companies involved in years of negotiations with creditors says it opposes the proposed multi-billion-dollar settlement announced in the case earlier this month.
The proposal would see the three companies — JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. — pay $24 billion to provinces and territories and more than $4 billion to tens of thousands of Quebec smokers and their heirs. In a separate court filing, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges said it has no issue with setting a date for the creditors' vote but reserves the right to object to the proposal at a later stage in the process.
The company added it is"committed to resolving the issue in a timely manner to avoid the risk of substantial objections at the sanction hearing as well as the potential for further complications and delay." A Quebec Superior Court judge first ordered the three companies to pay about $15 billion in two class-action lawsuits involving smokers in the province who took up the habit between 1950 and 1998 and either fell ill or were addicted, or their heirs.