(Reuters) -A Canadian court-appointed mediator has proposed a C$32.5 billion ($23.6 billion) settlement by the units of Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco in the country to end a long-running tobacco litigation, Philip Morris said on Friday.
“Although important issues with the plan remain to be resolved, we are hopeful that this legal process will soon conclude, allowing RBH (Rothmans, Benson & Hedges) and its stakeholders to focus on the future,” Philip Morris CEO Jacek Olczak said in a statement.
Philip Morris said the allocation of the aggregate settlement amount between the companies in the proceedings remained unresolved.
The company said that voting on the plan would happen in December this year and if accepted by claimants, a hearing to consider approval of the plan would then be expected in the first half of next year.
Separately, British American Tobacco on Friday said that a plan had been filed in a Canadian court to potentially resolve the litigation, without sharing the details that Philip Morris did.
Quebec Superior Court in 2015 had ruled to award damages to some 100,000 Quebec smokers and ex-smokers who alleged the companies knew since the 1950s that their product was causing cancer and other illnesses and failed to warn consumers adequately.
In 2019, a Quebec court upheld the 2015 decision that awarded smokers in the Canadian province around C$15 billion.
($1 = 1.3792 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Shubham Kalia and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)