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B.C. Appeal Court orders province to give up data in smoking lawsuit

Feb 14, 2017 | 4:51 PM

VANCOUVER — The British Columbia government must hand over health information that tobacco giant Phillip Morris International says it needs to fight the province’s efforts to recover health-care costs from tobacco related diseases.

In a unanimous decision, a B.C. Court of Appeal panel upheld a lower court order that Phillip Morris must have access to the raw data used by the province in 2001 when it launched its lawsuit against 13 tobacco companies, including Phillip Morris.

The lawsuit seeks repayment of health-care expenses for treating patients exposed to tobacco products.

The B.C. government fought the lower court ruling, arguing the raw data contains a range of health-care information about specific patients and its release could violate privacy laws.