JTI-Macdonald Corp.

Case update

Imperial Tobacco: the 10% tripwire comes out

In the Imperial Tobacco, JTI-Macdonald and Rothmans, Benson & Hedges CCAAs, Justice Kimmel granted the amended claims administrator orders and removed the 10% cost variance limit on Epiq, over an objection from the Attorney General of Quebec that the tobacco companies supported. She adopted the class plaintiffs' answer that there was never an approved budget to exceed, and said the search for a better trigger should have happened before the motion was argued. A point raised at the hearing means the new budget provisions now need their own motion before the Quebec Superior Court.

11 September 2026

Case update

Imperial Tobacco: the variance limit, and the 138% question

Epiq's budget for administering three months of tobacco settlement claims is $19,958,210 — against a framework that put the whole of year two at $33,494,485, and on a claim count that came in 76% below the estimate it was built on. Quebec wants the 10% overrun trigger kept and the motion adjourned; Quebec class counsel say every week of delay is measured in claimants who die first; and the plan administrators back the amendment but refuse to support Epiq's request to have its own conduct approved.

9 September 2026

Case update

Imperial Tobacco: who will run the tobacco settlement's foundation

The three tobacco CCAA plans were sanctioned in August 2025 with the Cy-près Foundation left deliberately unfinished. On August 7 Justice Kimmel signed three orders filling that gap — a management team, an independent executive search for the directors and the chair, a process for choosing which proposals get grants, and rules for spending the fund's capital and income.

9 August 2026