Three tobacco companies began High Court proceedings yesterday to secure the lifetime medical records of smokers who are suing for damages.
Some 200 actions against several companies are being prepared but are unlikely to be heard for some time.
While notice of actions against them was served some years ago, no statements of claim had been lodged, the companies said.
They feared that, with the passage of time, medical records would be lost.
However, Mr Peter McDonnell, a solicitor acting for one plaintiff in yesterday's application and for others who are taking similar actions, said that while there was no disagreement that the retention of appropriate documents was necessary to both parties, they should be made available at the close of the pleadings in the action.
He argued that the application before the court was a "backdoor method" of trying to obtain discovery prematurely.
In the first case yesterday, Mr Justice Butler heard an application by Benson and Hedges Ltd, of Old Bond Street, London, part of Gallaher Ltd, for the medical records of Ms Marie Callery, of Mullingar Road, Castlepollard, Co Westmeath.
The hearing was told that applications almost identical to those in yesterday's case were being made in other actions.
In other cases, Benson and Hedges is seeking the records of Mr James Morris, of Midleton, Co Cork, while Players and P.J. Carroll and Co are seeking the records of Mr John Fitzgerald, of Clonsilla, Co Dublin.
Mr Dermot Gleeson SC, for Benson and Hedges, said that the companies were applying to preserve the medical records. The application in the Callery case arose because of the lapse of time between the inception of the proceedings and the point now reached, where very little progress had been made.
He said the plaintiffs' medical advisers had only relatively recently taken steps to preserve the records. The tobacco companies had offered to collect, identify and preserve the records at their own expense, but the plaintiffs would say that was premature.
Although the defendants had been faced with the claim of Ms Callery since 1998, they did not even know what disease she had suffered.
In an affidavit, Mr McDonnell said he rejected any suggestion that there was a risk of Ms Callery's medical records being destroyed or lost in the absence of the relief being sought by Benson and Hedges. Instructions had been sought from her in relation to all hospitals and physicians from whom she had received treatment.
On March 23rd, Mr McDonnell said, they had received copies of Ms Callery's records from Killucan Medical Centre in addition to a medical report. He said Longford-Westmeath Hospital had confirmed that any records related to Ms Callery would be preserved and made available, although he was informed they had no apparent correlation to the smoking-related illness suffered by her.
The hearing continues today.