An Oasis

UK's first tobacco trial

Scotland's supreme civil court, the Court of Session, yesterday heard the opening salvo of a landmark smoking trial, the first case against "big tobacco" which has reached a final hearing anywhere in the UK.

Alfred McTear died aged 48 in 1993 of lung cancer brought on, his widow claims, by smoking 60 cigarettes a day. Mrs. McTear is fighting for £500,000 from Imperial Tobacco.

The sought after sum is low when compared with similar cases brought in other jurisdictions as Scots Law does not recognise punitive damages and any award would be governed by the principle of providing compensation for an actual loss rather than to serve as punishment.

I recently blogged about specialist Mesothelioma lawyers launching a fresh wave of claims in the U.S. and noticed a recent article in the Economist (print edition) explored the huge growth in similar litigation. Could we be on the brink of similar developments here?

Posted by Paul at October 8, 2003 12:39 AM |