Cancer-Ridden Ex-Smokers Appeal to Supreme Court in Damages Case
Posted on: Thursday, 7 July 2005, 12:00 CDT
Jul. 6--TOKYO -- Ex-smokers and bereaved relatives claiming damages from Japan Tobacco Inc. and the state for smoking-related illnesses have appealed to the Supreme Court over the Tokyo High Court's dismissal of their claims last month, their lawyers said Wednesday.
On June 22, the high court upheld a lower court ruling and dismissed appeals by six plaintiffs who sought a combined 60 million yen in compensation for developing diseases such as lung cancer.
The high court acknowledged that smoking is hazardous to the health but did not recognize a causal link between it and the plaintiffs' illnesses, and added it cannot be said that manufacturing and selling tobacco is illegal, echoing the 2003 lower court ruling.
The Tokyo District Court said on Oct. 21, 2003 that the plaintiffs smoked of their own free will and could have stopped smoking had they wished.
Of the six plaintiffs who developed lung cancer, larynx cancer or emphysema, three died in the course of the lower court trial. The six men had been smoking for periods of between 33 and 50 years.
In a similar case, patients suffering from chronic bronchitis lost a lawsuit seeking damages from Japan Tobacco at the Supreme Court in 2000 after losing at both the district and high court levels.
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Source: Kyodo News International, Tokyo
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