The Canadian subsidiaries of three major tobacco giants have vowed to appeal a judgment in two class action lawsuits at the Quebec Superior Court yesterday.

The judge awarded C$£15.6bn (£8.2bn) damages against Imperial Tobacco Canada and the Canadian subsidiaries of Philip Morris International and Japan Tobacco International (JTI).

The judgment also stipulated the tobacco companies must pay CAD$1.31bn between them under a provisional execution order if they mounted an appeal.

The execution order is believed to be for an unprecedented amount in Quebec and normally would only apply in instances where there was a risk of default.

The case has no direct implications for the UK – the last action went on trial in Scotland in 2005 and failed in a case against Imperial Tobacco.

“It doesn’t mean there won’t be any other cases and we hope they would be,” said chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health Deborah Arnott.

A spokesman for British American Tobacco said the company was “extremely disappointed” by yesterday’s judgment which ignored the reality that both adult consumers and governments had known about the risks associated with smoking for decades.

“In addition, the requirement to pay such a substantial sum in order to exercise the legal right to appeal against this judgement is unprecedented and egregious. The largest ever provisional execution order to have been enforced in a Quebec class action is C$50,000, yet our Canadian subsidiary has inexplicably been asked to pay approximately C$750million simply to appeal.”

BAT said its Canadian team had advised there were “strong grounds” for appeal against the judgement as well as the provisional execution order and it planned to challenge both elements in the Quebec Court of Appeal within the next 30 days.

JTI said its Canadian subsidiary also intended to appeal the decision and to request the Quebec Court of Appeal suspend the initial payment order.

Marc Firestone, senior vice-president and general counsel at Philip Morris International confirmed its subsidiary would follow a similar course.

“Philip Morris International and its affiliates have been involved in tobacco litigation since 1995 and have been overwhelmingly successful in defending themselves. Courts around the world have concluded that smokers are well aware of the dangers of smoking and are not entitled to money damages in light of these well-known dangers,” he said.

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