TORONTO - Tobacco companies targeted in a $50-billion lawsuit by the Ontario government are expected to argue they're outside the province's jurisdiction.
The director of the anti-smoking group Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco, says Premier Dalton McGuinty's office told him a motion is set to be introduced in Superior Court on Monday.
Michael Perley says he has been told the 14 companies named in the suit will argue the province has no jurisdiction to sue them because they're controlled by foreign firms.
Ontario is taking legal action under a provincial law that allows the tobacco companies to be sued to recover health care costs linked to smoking-related diseases.
A 2005 Supreme Court of Canada ruling upheld a similar law passed in British Columbia.
Governments in Ontario, B.C., New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador have filed cost-recovery lawsuits against tobacco makers.
