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The National Health Insurance Corporation (Korea Corporation) dragged a 50 billion won claim for damages for six years, alleging that tobacco companies had spent excessive insurance benefits due to illegal activities, but lost. The court found that the Corporation was not a “direct victim.”
The 22nd Civil Settlement Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Hong Ki-chan) ruled on the plaintiff’s defeat in a lawsuit filed against KT&G, Philip Morris Korea and British American Tobacco (BAT) Korea on the 20th.
Previously, the Corporation reported that 3,464 smokers developed squamous cell carcinoma among lung cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, and laryngeal cancer due to defects and illegal activities in cigarettes imported, manufactured and sold by tobacco companies. ) He claimed to have spent a total of 53.3 billion won. At the same time, a lawsuit was filed in 2014 stating that “tobacco companies are required to pay 53.3 billion won in damages to the Corporation as joint infringers.”
However, the court found that the Corporation’s spending on insurance benefits for nursing institutions was simply meeting its obligations as prescribed by the National Health Insurance Act and executing the funds raised or supported in accordance with the Act. of the National Health Insurance. It is explained that the payment of health insurance benefits is only an obligation of the Health Insurance Corporation and not a loss.
Furthermore, the smoking victims also saw that they have no right to claim damages against the tobacco companies. This is because it was considered difficult to find defects in cigarettes manufactured by tobacco companies and that an individual causal relationship between smoking and lung cancer was not proven.
The court explained: “Based on the evidence presented by the Corporation, we can only know that the subjects in this case have a smoking history of more than 20 packs per year (smoking one pack per day for more than 20 years) and have been diagnosed with a disease. “
After the sentence was completed, President Kim Yong-ik met with reporters and told them, “Today’s ruling is a very shocking and unfortunate ruling.” I reported that it is under review.
A sentence was previously handed down with effect similar to this case. In 2014, the Supreme Court upheld the court case of the plaintiff’s defeat in two damage claim cases brought against KT&G and the government by 30 people, including lung cancer patients and their grieving family members.
On the other hand, in the US, tobacco-related lawsuits have been filed since the 1950s and judgments have continued to acknowledge the responsibility of tobacco companies. In 1994, 50 state governments filed a lawsuit against tobacco companies such as the Philip Morris Corporation to claim the return of unfair profits, and in 1998 they received a settlement amount of $ 246 billion (about 279 billion won).
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