By Lee Hyo-sik
A court rejected a civil lawsuit, Tuesday, filed by the family of a lung cancer patient against the government and KT&G, citing a lack of evidence that the disease was directly caused by smoking.
It also said there isn’t enough evidence that the cigarette maker intentionally withheld information from smokers concerning tobacco’s adverse effects on human health.
The Seoul Central District Court dismissed a claim by the bereaved family of a police officer who died of lung cancer that the country’s largest cigarette maker was to blame for the illness.
“There isn’t enough evidence proving that serious defects exist in the design and manufacturing of cigarette products. We don’t think KT&G presented false information about its products and or that KT&G did not warn consumers properly about the dangers of nicotine addiction,” the court said.
But the plaintiffs protested the court ruling, claiming tobacco companies have denied the harmful effects of cigarettes on human health and sold cigarettes without suitable warnings.
“Tobacco makers have always claimed that individual smokers are responsible for their own health problems. But we simply cannot accept it,” they said in a statement. They have yet to decide whether to appeal.
The bereaved family of the police officer named Park said he died of lung cancer in 2000, 30 years after he started smoking. The family asked the Government Employees Pension Service for compensation following his death.
But it refused to accept the officer died because he smoked cigarettes.
In 2005, the family filed a compensation suit against the government and KT&G.
The lawsuit was the second of its kind after lung cancer patient Kim Ahn-bu, now deceased, and his family sued the government and the cigarette maker for 100 million won in compensation in 1999.
In 2007, the court ruled against the plaintiffs, saying there was no evidence to prove that lung cancer was directly caused by smoking. While admitting a correlation between smoking and the plaintiff’s illness, it also said the claim that smoking was solely to blame for leading to lung cancer was groundless.
In protest of the lower court’s ruling, the plaintiffs appealed to a higher court. But in February this year, the Seoul High Court again rejected the claims, saying the plaintiffs failed to show an exclusive link. Over the years, the number of plaintiffs grew to 31, demanding a total of 307 million won in compensation.