Smoke 'em if you got 'em

Smokers in Quebec have filed a class-action lawsuit against cigarette manufacturers looking for up to $17.8-billion in damages. The move came only one day after a Supreme Court of Canada ruling in British Columbia that allows the province to sue tobacco companies for lost health care costs.

The suit has been filed on behalf of all Quebec residents that are over fifteen years of age, and smoked every day of September 1998, when the plaintiff sought permission to bring the lawsuit against the tobacco companies.  Named in the suit are Imperial Tobacco Canada, Rothmans Benson and Hedges, and JTI MacDonald.