The National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC) has concluded the second trial of the 'tobacco lawsuit' in which it has claimed 53.3 billion won in damages against tobacco manufacturers. The date of the ruling will be decided later. This lawsuit has been ongoing for over 11 years since it was filed in April 2014. In the first trial, the NHIC lost.
On the 22nd, the Seoul High Court's Civil Division 6-1 (Presiding Judge Kim Je-wook) conducted the final argument in this case. The court noted, "The defendants should submit reference letters within two months, and if the plaintiffs have any rebuttals, they should submit their opinions within one month. We will set the ruling date after that.”
During the argument, the NHIC stated, "Tobacco manufacturers diluted the harmfulness of tobacco through advertising and concealed harmful information from the public. Therefore, it must be seen as a violation of consumer protection obligations, as consumers were not adequately aware of the harmfulness and addictive nature of tobacco."
On the other hand, tobacco manufacturers asserted, "The claim that tobacco manufacturers deceived consumers is merely the perspective of the NHIC, and there is no supporting evidence for this. The NHIC is a national agency, and the compensation they paid to lung cancer patients was merely fulfilling a contractual obligation, not something that can be considered as damages."
Previously, the NHIC filed a lawsuit in April 2014, stating, "As the number of patients with lung cancer increased due to smoking, additional expenditure for medical costs was incurred by the NHIC, so tobacco companies should cover this loss."
The first-instance ruling in this case was issued in November 2020. At that time, the court stated, "We cannot dismiss the possibility that the onset was caused by other factors besides smoking, such as individual lifestyle habits, genetics, surrounding environment, and occupational characteristics." As they could not recognize a causal relationship between smoking and disease, they ruled against the NHIC.
The NHIC filed an appeal in December 2020. A total of 18 arguments have been conducted in the second trial up to this day.