R-2.2.0.0.01 - Opioid-related Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act

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21. When the presumptions set out in section 20 apply, the court sets the cost of all the health care required following exposure to the type of opioid products involved in the action and provided after the date of the defendant’s first failure.
Each defendant to whom the presumptions apply is liable for the costs in proportion to its market share in the type of opioid products involved. That share is determined by the court by applying the following rules:
(1)  if the defendant is a manufacturer, its share is equal to the relation between
(a)  the quantity of opioid products of the type involved in the action that the defendant manufactured and that were distributed, sold or offered for sale in Québec between the date of the defendant’s first failure and the date of the action; and
(b)  the total quantity of opioid products of the type involved in the action manufactured by all the manufacturers of those products and that were purchased or distributed in Québec, with a view to providing health care, between the date of the defendant’s first failure and the date of the action; or
(2)  if the defendant is a wholesaler, its share is equal to the relation between
(a)  the quantity of opioid products of the type involved in the action that the defendant distributed, sold or offered for sale in Québec between the date of the defendant’s first failure and the date of the action; and
(b)  the quantity of opioid products of the type involved in the action that were distributed, sold or offered for sale in Québec, with a view to providing health care, between the date of the defendant’s first failure and the date of the action.
The court may reduce the amount of the health care costs for which a defendant is liable or adjust among the defendants their share of responsibility for the health care costs if one of the defendants proves either that its failure did not cause or contribute to the exposure of the persons in Québec who were exposed to the type of opioid products involved in the action, or that its failure did not cause or contribute to the disease, injury or illness, or the risk of a disease, injury or illness, of a number of those persons.
2023, c. 25, s. 21.