Brazil Court rejects the collective application filed to the cigarette manufacturers.

Sao Paulo, June 2011.- / PRNewswire /. 19 Sao Paulo Civil Court judge has refused the demand for
compensation filed by the Association for the Defence of the Health of Smokers (ADESF) in the case of the collective application filed against the manufacturers of cigarettes Souza Cruz (the Brazilian branch of British American Tobacco Group – BAT, Amex: BTI) (Bovespa: CRUZ3) and Philip Morris Brazil in which, according to the applicants, were assessed more than 30 billion Brazilian Reals (US $ 18,400 million). This is the first application filed in the country requesting damages attributed to smoking cigarettes. In the lawsuit, filed in 1995, the ADESF seeks compensation smoking all the”consumers” who alleged the representation, based on the argument that manufacturers advertising was deceptive and abusive.

At a point in the process, the Association managed to receive the favourable decision of one lower court which, in spite of this, had been listed as a resolution advanced the accused without having the opportunity to produce evidence that had been requested. In 2008, the Appeals Court of Sao Paulo (TJSP) recognized that the defence had been reduced and the decision had been reversed, stating the conviction without trial violates the constitutional right to a full self-defence.

The case went to the 19 Court Civil São Paulo, and under due process of law, be managed testing, including the evidence of experts requested by the Court of appeal. Due to the nature of the collective demand, carried out a review unprecedented by experts (analyzing the epidemiological aspects of all diseases associated with smoking cigarettes), as well as a comprehensive analysis by a Court of experts in advertising, under the explicit resolution of the Court of appeals of São PauloShe has covered the last 30 years of advertising for the two defendants in Brazil.

In summary, medical experts concluded that smoking is a multifactorial conduct and that “it is not possible to determine in advance if a smoker will develop some kind of disease or not, but that only it can be noted the existence of risk factors”. The expert in advertising, among other things, confirmed “the use of tobacco in all forms data from an old, oldest era than advertising”, and “advertising is not the only determining factor in the choice of a person to smoke or not to do so”.

Following statements by the parties and the express request of the expert reports, the judge denied demand compensation on the basis of the proof of that “cigarette smoking is simply a factor of risk (probability) of various diseases and not necessary cause” and on the fact that “the lack of warnings about the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes in packages and advertising””, something that is not a legal requirement to show these warnings, does not create a liability for the accused.

Citing an extensive jurisprudence, including the of the Tribunal Superior de Justice (STJ), the lower court emphasized that “was a well-known fact for decades that smoking is prejudicial to the health of smokers” and that “despite the fact that cigarette smoking causes damage to health, did not exist a prohibition against the manufacture and sale.” “On the other hand, trade in cigarettes was a legal and permissible activity within their legal application.” In addition, the resolution recognized expressly the legality of the advertising of the manufacturer, and the fact that “cigarettes are not a defective product and an inherently dangerous product”.

All claims in Group and individual of this type have been judged in final form by the Brazil courts have ended without the alleged responsibility of the manufacturers. From the legal perspective of Brazil, the object of this collective demand is identical to hundreds of individual claims that have already rejected definitively by more than 15 courts of the State and the Superior Court of justice. All final decisions carried out by the Brazilian courts have refused demands for compensation for smokers, quitters, or members of his family, reaching more than 355 closed cases of 620 cases that have been lodged in Brazil since 1995.