Fight with tobacco company ends, years after cancer victim's death

THE family of lung cancer victim Rolah McCabe has spent a decade battling British American Tobacco through the Australian courts. Yesterday, at a hearing that lasted a mere five minutes and 10 seconds, the bitter fight finally came to an end.

A confidential agreement has been struck between British American Tobacco Australia Services, the local offshoot of the world's second-largest cigarette company, and the family of Mrs McCabe, who died of lung cancer in 2002 at the age of 51.

No details of the agreement were divulged yesterday, but there is little doubt it came at a substantial cost to British American Tobacco.

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The tobacco company's extraordinary legal costs for the landmark case are estimated at more than $10 million.

Arnold Bloch Liebler, the blue-blood Melbourne law firm that has acted pro bono for the McCabes since 2006, racked up more than $3.5 million of its own costs just in responding to BATAS's lawyers. As part of the agreement legal documents obtained by Mrs McCabe's original law firm, Slater & Gordon, will be destroyed. The documents include internal reports compiled by BATAS's former solicitors, Clayton Utz, into the professional conduct of two of the firm's partners.

In 2007 Victoria's Director of Public Prosecutions, Paul Coghlan, referred allegations of criminal behaviour to the Australian Crime Commission after reviewing the internal Clayton Utz reports. The ACC decided not to investigate.

Due to confidentiality clauses no one was claiming a victory or a loss as they left the Victorian Supreme Court after yesterday's brief mention hearing.

A BAT statement said all parties had simply ''walked away''.

''The settlement does not include any payment whatsoever by or on behalf of British American Tobacco (or any company related to it) or the McCabe Estate,'' read the tobacco giant's statement.

The reactions told a different story. Rolah's son, Jamie McCabe, smiled and hugged his legal team outside court, while lawyers for British American Tobacco departed with glum faces.