CQTS-Blais tobacco class action criteria
Based on what you indicated in the questionnaire, you don’t seem to meet the criteria for the CQTS-Blais tobacco class action, which applies only to the heirs of people who died after November 20, 1998.
This date is not random, as it marks the filing of the initial claim in the CQTS-Blais class action. Moreover, this date has been confirmed by the courts on three occasions:
- In 2005, the judge who authorized the class action first determined that a class member had to be alive at the time the action was filed, i.e. November 20, 1998.
- This date was subsequently retained in the 2015 Superior Court ruling.
- It was finally confirmed by the Quebec Court of Appeal on March 1, 2019.
The legal considerations underlying this decision have nothing to do with the suffering experienced by you and your family, which is no less than that of the people included in the class action. Your suffering, and that of your family, is indirectly considered in the Plan of Arrangement through the creation of a foundation dedicated to research into smoking-related diseases, in particular to enable more effective and rapid detection of these diseases.
We hope these clarifications will help you better understand the exclusion of the estates of victims who died on or before November 20, 1998, and the measures put in place by the Plan of Arrangement.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.