Litigation and its current role in tobacco regulation in Australia.

Successful legal action brings the defendant to account, and provides the opportunity for remedy, whether in the form of compensation to a person who has suffered, punishment of the wrongdoer, or the granting of injunctions (such as an order that a person or corporation refrain from certain conduct or that it undertake corrective action to set its wrongdoing right). Ultimately, it is litigation, or the threat of litigation, that compels individuals and corporations to comply with their legal obligations. This article summarises the current state of tobacco litigation in Australia as of January 2004.