B.C. Appeal Court orders province to give up data in smoking lawsuit
VANCOUVER — The British Columbia government must hand over information about patients that tobacco giant Phillip Morris International says it needs to fight the province’s efforts to recover health-care costs from tobacco-related diseases.
In a unanimous decision released Tuesday, the B.C. Court of Appeal upheld a lower court order that Phillip Morris be given access to the raw data used by the province in 2001 when it filed its lawsuit against 13 tobacco companies.
“Trial fairness requires production of the databases,” the ruling says. “To find otherwise would tip the playing field unfairly in the province’s favour.”
The ruling is the latest in the province’s 16-year legal battle against tobacco manufacturers to recover billions of dollars it says it spent treating diseases linked to tobacco products.