http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3215524/Fashion-boss-cigarettes-battle-Wealthy-tycoon-attempts-sue-tobacco-firms-millions-pounds-behalf-smokers-health-complaints.html
A wealthy fashion tycoon is attempting to sue cigarette firms for millions of pounds on behalf of smokers whose health has been damaged.
Michael Potel, whose firm supplied clothes to stores including Topman and Miss Selfridge, is the main backer of the Tobacco Victims Support Campaign, which is planning to launch a class action against the industry.
The 62-year-old businessman, who lives in Mayfair and Monaco, is assembling a team to initiate the first mass legal challenge to UK cigarette firms for 20 years.
Michael Potel, whose firm supplied clothes to stores including Topman and Miss Selfridge, is the main backer of the Tobacco Victims Support Campaign, which is planning to launch a class action against the industry (stock photograph)
The former 60-a-day smoker says his aim is to hold them accountable for the harm caused by their products, since nicotine was first linked to heart and lung disease in the 1950s.
It follows a landmark Canadian case in June, when a Montreal judge ordered three tobacco companies to pay more than £8billion in damages.
The 62-year-old businessman, who lives in Mayfair and Monaco, is assembling a team to initiate the first mass legal challenge to UK cigarette firms for 20 years
Mr Potel, who made millions with his firm British & Foreign Trading, said: ‘I thought, if it can be done [in Canada], why can’t we achieve something similar in Britain?’
The last UK legal challenge began in 1995, when a widow unsuccessfully sued Imperial Tobacco for £500,000 after her husband died of lung cancer.
The Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association, which represents most of the big British firms, declined to comment.