After a month of no communication, a few new items were posted this week to the websites of the Monitors involved in Canada's tobacco insolvency proceedings.
As of this moment, none of this new material contains information about the pending decisions on the date on which the settlement will be implemented (and victims can be paid) or about the fees that will be paid to the lawyers representing many of those individuals.
The new material includes the naming of the Quebec judge who will participate in the administration of the Quebec Class Action. Justice Catherine Piché - who has significant experience in class action theory - was assigned this responsibility mid-month.
It also includes a motion that will likely be the subject of a hearing next week (April 29 at 11:00 a.m). JTI-Macdonald wants a change to the wording of the Initial Order issued by the court 6 years ago.
As I read it, the effect of the wording would be to allow this company to pick up where they left off on any lawsuits they wish to file without worrying about limitation periods. "JTIM seeks to rectify paragraph 20 of the Initial Order to include the word “by,” to align with the McEwen Endorsement and the initial orders of Imperial and RBH, to ensure that any prescription, time or limitation period related to any Proceeding by the Applicant is tolled."
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| The black-lined amendment proposed by JTIM |
The wording change sought by JTI Macdonald would give the company the same rights as are already provided to the other two companies involved in this insolvency proceeding. It would make the language in their Initial Order the same as that already in place in the (amended) initial orders for Imperial Tobacco and Rothmans Benson and Hedges.
