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Mealey's Tobacco

  • March 27, 2025

    Warrantless Inspections Of Tobacco Retailers In Utah Enjoined By Federal Judge

    SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah federal judge granted a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by the Utah Vapor Business Association (UVBA) and a local vape retailer and enjoined the state from enforcing a portion of a new law that allowed warrantless inspections of tobacco retail stores after previously refusing to enjoin the portion of the law banning the sale of flavored e-cigarettes.

  • March 27, 2025

    High Court Hears Oral Arguments On FCC Authority Under Nondelegation Doctrine

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 26 heard oral arguments in consolidated cases filed by the Federal Communications Commission and telecom providers urging reversal of an en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that a subsidy program violates the “private nondelegation doctrine.”

  • March 21, 2025

    Jury Awards $40M To Estate Of Smoker Hooked After Getting Samples As Teen

    WOBURN, Mass. — A Massachusetts state court jury awarded more than $40 million in compensatory and punitive damages to the estate of a dead smoker who began smoking after receiving free samples as a teenager and who developed lung cancer after smoking for 37 years, finding punitive damages warranted against two tobacco companies that it said engaged in “malicious” and grossly negligent” conduct. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • March 18, 2025

    Nebraska Tells High Court It Can Regulate Tribe’s Tobacco Sales To Nonmembers

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nebraska state officials filed a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court opposing a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by two subsidiaries of a Winnebago Tribe-owned tobacco company that challenge an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling partly upholding the state’s right to enforce Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) regulations over the tribe’s tobacco sales to tribal nonmembers, writing that the Circuit Court properly balanced state and tribal interests.

  • March 14, 2025

    Associations Urge High Court Reversal Of Ruling Finding Nondelegation Violation

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Telecom provider petitioners and broadband association petitioners filed reply briefs on March 13 in the U.S. Supreme Court, urging reversal of an en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that a subsidy program violates the “private nondelegation doctrine” after the high court granted two petitions for a writ of certiorari and consolidated cases concerning whether Congress violated the nondelegation doctrine by authorizing the Federal Communications Commission to delegate to a private entity.

  • March 14, 2025

    Tobacco Company Accused Of Violating Telemarketing Time Limits

    LOS ANGELES — A man filed a putative class action lawsuit against a tobacco company that he claims violates federal law by sending “telephone solicitations” outside the hours that such solicitations are permitted under federal law.

  • March 14, 2025

    Cigar Group Doesn’t Want D.C. Circuit Rehearing On Premium Cigar Definition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — One of three cigar industry associations that was party to a case in which the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed vacatur of U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules for premium cigars filed a letter to the Circuit Court stating it will not join two other associations’ petition for rehearing on the issue of how premium cigars are defined, writing that it was “correct” for the Circuit Court to remand that issue.

  • March 14, 2025

    $299,000 Deal Gets Initial OK In ERISA Suit Over Plan’s Tobacco Surcharge

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge granted preliminary approval to a $299,000 class settlement that would resolve an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over annual $1,152 surcharges imposed on about 431 health plan participants who use tobacco.

  • March 13, 2025

    Federal Circuit Rejects Rehearing Bid In E-Cig Patent Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected requests for rehearing from electronic cigarette entity R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJR), leaving in place a partially split panel’s affirmation of a jury’s award of more than $95 million against the company for infringing on another company’s pod-based tobacco vapor technology.

  • March 12, 2025

    Juul, Florida Settle Youth Marketing Suit For $79M

    TAMPA, Fla. — Florida and e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. entered into a consent judgment in Florida state court under which Juul will pay $79 million over several years to resolve state claims that it unlawfully marketed its popular e-cigarette products to youth, months after a state court judge denied Juul’s motion to dismiss the state’s claims against it.

  • March 11, 2025

    Smoker’s Widow Says Judge Wrongly Reduced Verdict By $4.5M

    MIAMI — The widow of a smoker who died from lung cancer argues in a March 11 initial brief to the Florida Third District Court of Appeal that a trial judge wrongly reduced judgment in her favor down to $11.5 million from the $16 million a jury awarded her after entering a post-trial directed verdict on her fraud claims, asserting that the jury’s fraud findings should have been upheld.

  • March 10, 2025

    Split Panel Upholds Tobacco Tax On Hookah Distributor’s Sales

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A divided Florida First District Court of Appeal panel affirmed the state’s imposition of $1.4 million in excise taxes and surcharges on sales by a North Carolina-based hookah distributor, finding that hookah sales fall within the statutory definition of “loose tobacco” in the statute at issue, and on the same day affirmed a separate related appeal challenging a state policy applying the tax to hookah.

  • March 10, 2025

    Florida Supreme Court Says Lawyer’s Meritless Engle Claims Broke Ethics Rules

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court disapproved a referee’s not-guilty recommendation after disciplinary proceedings, found that a Florida attorney violated the state Bar’s rules of professional conduct by filing “thousands of meritless Engle-progeny . . . claims in state and federal court” and directed the referee to hold a hearing “to determine the appropriate sanction.”

  • March 06, 2025

    Kentucky Urges 6th Circuit To Reject Vape Businesses’ Tobacco Law Challenge

    CINCINNATI — Kentucky state officials filed a brief to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals urging it to reject an emergency motion filed by a vaping industry association and two vape businesses that are asking the Circuit Court to enjoin a state law that would bar the sale of vaping products not authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

  • March 05, 2025

    R.J. Reynolds Wins $251M For Florida Payments On Brands It Sold

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A vice chancellor of the Delaware Chancery Court ruled that ITG Brands LLC must pay Reynolds American Inc. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (collectively, RJR) more than $251 million in damages plus pre- and postjudgment interest representing the payments RJR has been required to pay Florida for sales of cigarette brands that ITG previously bought from RJR.

  • March 03, 2025

    Judge Grants Summary Judgment On Tribe’s Challenge To Federal Tobacco Rules

    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A California federal judge granted a motion for summary judgment filed by U.S. government agencies and officials including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), finding they did not act improperly by deeming a Native American tribe-owned tobacco business out of compliance with the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act based on its allegedly untaxed sales to nontribal members.

  • March 03, 2025

    Vape Seller Can’t Get Jury Review While FDA Penalty Remains Pending

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge denied a vape company’s motion for preliminary injunction and granted the Food and Drug Administration’s motion for summary judgment on the vape company’s claim that it is constitutionally entitled to a jury trial prior to FDA’s issuance of a civil penalty against it for selling an allegedly adulterated tobacco product.

  • March 03, 2025

    Lawmaker’s Suit Against Tobacco Companies Over Vape Lobbying Dismissed

    HELENA, Mont. — A Montana federal judge granted a state legislator’s request to dismiss with prejudice his lawsuit accusing tobacco companies of violating a 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) by lobbying the state to allow certain vape products to be sold allegedly in contradiction of their MSA obligations and in furtherance of an alleged monopoly, after previously denying the legislator’s motion for a preliminary injunction.

  • March 03, 2025

    Panel Affirms $6M Verdict For Dead Smoker’s Kids, Rejects ‘Forgery’ Theory

    MIAMI — The Florida Third District Court of Appeal affirmed a $6 million verdict in favor of a dead smoker’s children against a tobacco company, finding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting evidence regarding the smoker’s diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) that was contested by the smoker’s own physician.

  • February 26, 2025

    Massachusetts Wrongful Death Judgment For Smoker’s Estate Reduced By $20 Million

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts state court entered an amended judgment of approximately $86.6 million against a tobacco company in favor of the estate of a smoker who died from lung cancer, after a state court justice agreed to amend the judgment to correct an “error” that led to a previously entered judgment worth more than $105 million comprising a jury verdict, an incorrectly large attorney fees award and a posttrial $20 million award for deceptive and unfair conduct that the justice trebled under state law.

  • February 25, 2025

    Vape Association, Sellers Urge 6th Circuit To Enjoin Kentucky Vape Law

    CINCINNATI — A vaping industry association and two vape businesses filed an emergency motion to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals asking it to enjoin a new Kentucky law barring sales of vaping products not authorized by the Food and Drug Administration from taking effect, following a federal judge’s dismissal of their suit for lack of standing.

  • February 20, 2025

    New York State Sues Flavored E-Cig Companies For Causing Youth Health ‘Crisis’

    NEW YORK — The New York Attorney General’s Office on Feb. 20 filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York accusing multiple sellers of violating state and federal laws and creating a public nuisance by selling flavored e-cigarettes, including disposable vape products, and causing “a public health crisis among its youth.”

  • February 20, 2025

    Lawmaker Serves Tobacco Companies He Accuses Of Improper Vape Lobbying

    HELENA, Mont. — A Montana state lawmaker who is a vape shop owner on Feb. 19 filed notice in Montana federal court against tobacco companies he contends are violating a 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) they entered into with the United States by lobbying the state to allow their vape products to be sold.

  • February 13, 2025

    Mistrial Over References To Adopted Kids Denied In Smoker’s Wrongful Death Suit

    WOBURN, Mass. — A Massachusetts state court justice denied a motion filed by two tobacco companies and two retailers for a mistrial based on “‘emotional’” references to children with health issues adopted by a dead smoker and his widow prior to the smoker’s death at age 54 from lung cancer, writing that the references took up only a small portion of an hourlong opening statement. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • February 13, 2025

    FDA’s Vape Rules Not Unfairly ‘Burdensome’ To Small E-Liquid Makers, Judge Says

    SHERMAN, Texas — A Texas federal judge on Feb. 12 denied summary judgment sought by small e-liquid makers and a vaping industry association that claimed that the Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of vaping is so “burdensome” that it effectively bars small companies from entering the market and granted the FDA’s cross-motion for summary judgment.