SC orders CTC to pay costs  to wife of deceased smoker

By S.S. Selvanayagam

The Supreme Court last Thursday (14) in a landmark judgment issued an order to the Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) to pay a sum of Rs. 400,000 as costs within one month to the wife of a deceased smoker for delaying the trial for more than 12 years, through appeals to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Priyasath Dep concurred with Justices Sisira J. De Abrew and Prasanna Jayawardena in his judgment held that the District Court should hear and determine the trial on its merit as soon as possible.

Court dismissed the appeal by CTC and affirmed the Orders of District Court and the Court of Appeal.

Court observed that the CTC has succeeded in delaying for more than 12 years the trial pending in the District Court which caused the Plaintiff Widow to incur expenses which were likely to have imposed a difficult burden on her and that she would have also been put into considerable inconvenience.

Court noted that these obstacles may even have led to the Plaintiff, whose resources are likely to be limited, caving in and giving up the action. The Plaintiff-Respondent Lalitha Padmini Fernando was the wife of one K.S. Perera (tailor) who had started smoking when he was a teenager. In September 1996, he was diagnosed with incurable cancer and died on 13 April 2001 at the age of 60 years. Prior to his death, he had instituted an action in the Colombo District Court against Ceylon Tobacco Company for recovery of damages on account of the cancer allegedly caused by smoking cigarettes manufactured by CTC.

On 11 April 2003, the Plaintiff instituted legal action against CTC pleading four alleged causes of action and praying for the recovery of a sum of Rs. 5 million from CTC. Manoj Bandara with T. Herath instructed by Sudath Perera Associates appeared for Defendant-Petitioner-Petitioner/Appellant the CTC. Canishka Witharana with H.M. Thilakarathne instructed by Medha N. Gamage appeared for the Plaintiff-Respondent-Respondent Lalitha Padmini Fernando.