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British tobacco faces first class-action suit
May 31, 1997
Web posted at: 2:10 p.m. EDT (1410 GMT)From Correspondent Siobhan Darrow
LONDON (CNN) -- American tobacco companies have been under heavy attack in the United States, where their representatives are engaged in negotiations in at least 18 class-action suits. Now, British tobacco companies face a class-action suit as well, their first ever.
Christopher Glinsky, a Polish immigrant, is a part of the suit. He and 35 other lung cancer victims have joined together to take Britain's tobacco giants to court in what could be a precedent-setting case.
Glinsky smoked cigarettes for more than 50 years, stopping only when doctors removed his cancer-ridden lung four years ago. "When I started smoking, there was no question of damaging your health or anything," he said.
"As a matter of fact, the adverts were the cowboys on the range, you know, healthy people." He paused, a hacking smoker's cough wracking his remaining lung. "I think tobacco companies are to blame for hiding the facts," he concluded.
Class action suits are nothing new in the United States, but are rare here in Britain. And Glinsky's battle may be more difficult here than if he were in the United States, since British law puts more onus on consumers for the choices they make.
"We have very strong principles of contributory negligence, which in the case of smoking is very important," said tobacco analyst Julianne Jessup. "So firstly, it's much more difficult to prove liability, and also, even if liability is proven, the level of damages will be much less."
The plaintiffs claim that tobacco companies knew back in the 1950s that cigarette smoking was dangerous. Imperial, one of the two tobacco companies under fire, is confident.
"I think the companies have always acted responsibly. I believe that the record of our behavior will stand up to any level of scrutiny, so I don't think we have anything to be concerned about," said Alan Porter, the legal manager for Imperial.
Each year, lung cancer kills 37,000 people in Britain. Ninety percent of those cases are said to be smoking-related.
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