UK hearing sets number of cancer patients to sue tobacco companies

A crucial hearing which could decide whether a compensation claim by people with lung cancer against British tobacco companies gets off the ground, opened in the High Court in London this week.

The judge for the case, Mr Justice Wright, has to decide whether claims on behalf of 36 former smokers who were diagnosed with lung cancer more than three years before writs were issued can go ahead. Claims in personal injury cases must normally be brought within …