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Mealey's Tobacco

March 02, 2023
U.S. Company Appeals Cancellation Of Trademarks In Cuban Cigar Dispute

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — An American cigar company recently filed an appeal in Virginia federal court seeking the reversal and vacatur of a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decision canceling its trademarks in favor of Cuba’s state-owned tobacco company, which the American company says is precluded from challenging the trademarks after it brought similar claims 26 years ago that were rejected.
February 28, 2023
8th Circuit Upholds Minnesota City’s Ban Of Flavored Tobacco Products

ST. LOUIS — Despite finding the language of federal legislation regulating tobacco sales “ambiguous,” an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 27 affirmed a Minnesota city’s ordinance banning the sale of all flavored tobacco products as an exercise of the “traditional state police powers,” rejecting arguments by tobacco companies and retailers that the ban is preempted by federal regulation.
February 27, 2023
High Court Won’t Hear Challenge To Los Angeles County’s Flavored Tobacco Ban

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 27 denied three tobacco companies’ petition for a writ of certiorari challenging a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals split panel’s affirmance of Los Angeles County’s ban on flavored tobacco products, which the tobacco companies and a dissenting circuit judge had said was identical to past cases in which the high court deemed product bans federally preempted.
January 25, 2023
LA Says High Court Need Not Review Challenge To Its Flavored Tobacco Ban

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Los Angeles County and its Board of Supervisors (LA) urge the U.S. Supreme Court to deny three tobacco companies’ petition for a writ of certiorari challenging a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals split panel’s affirmance of LA’s ban on flavored tobacco products, arguing that the county’s ban is distinguishable from past cases where the high court deemed product bans federally preempted (R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, et al. v. County of Los Angeles, California, et al., No. 22-338, U.S. Sup.).
February 22, 2023
Judge Approves Final Altria Shareholder Settlement, Reduces Attorney Fees

RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia federal judge granted final approval to a $117 million settlement of shareholder claims against tobacco company Altria Group Inc. for harming the company by investing in Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) after a third set of revisions but issued a slightly reduced attorney fees award of $15 million after noting that finalization of the settlement required “a healthy dose of assistance from the Court.”
February 16, 2023
At Trial, Man Who Sued Cigarette Maker Says He Didn’t Know Of Cancer Risk Until 2005

BOSTON — Jurors in a Massachusetts court recently heard opening arguments at trial regarding claims brought by a 78-year-old former smoker with cancer who says a tobacco company concealed the risks of cigarettes and deceived him into developing a nicotine addiction, while a lawyer for the tobacco company said the smoker chose to use cigarettes independently. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
February 13, 2023
Judge Dismisses Nicotine Pouch Makers’ Settled Trade Secrets Row

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge entered an order granting a joint stipulation by Swedish and American companies involved in a trade secrets and patent dispute over the manufacturing and selling of nicotine pouches to voluntarily dismiss two pending lawsuits between them with prejudice, with each party agreeing to bear its own attorney fees and costs.
January 17, 2023
RJR Appeals Royalties, Patent Rulings In $95M E-Cigarette Design Row

GREENSBORO, N.C. — R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJR) filed notice that it is appealing a district court’s judgment against it, denial of its motion for a new trial and grant of Altria Client Services LLC’s motion for ongoing royalties on RJR’s Vuse Alto e-cigarette, after a jury ordered RJR to pay more than $95 million for infringing three of Altria’s patents for pod-based vape technology.
February 10, 2023
Cigar Maker Moves For $20M In Sanctions From Rival For Fraud In Antitrust Suit

LOS ANGELES — A cigar maker that previously won the vacatur of a $44 million verdict in favor of a rival cigarillo maker and its parent company after proving the verdict was based on fraudulent evidence recently moved in a California federal court for sanctions of nearly $20 million representing its attorney fees and costs incurred defending against the rivals’ “bad-faith conduct throughout this litigation.”
February 09, 2023
FDA Appeals Vacatur Of New Tobacco Warnings Rule To 5th Circuit

TYLER, Texas — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is appealing to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a Texas district court’s ruling vacating its new graphic warnings rule for tobacco products, which the court found violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by requiring manufacturers to place large photographic images depicting the health risks of smoking on product labels.
February 08, 2023
Judge Issues Written Order Granting Preliminary Approval To $225M Juul Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — The California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation against Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and its affiliates recently issued a written order granting preliminary approval to the MDL plaintiffs’ proposed $225 million settlement to adult and minor consumers nationwide who allegedly suffered economic loss due to JLI’s deceptive marketing and wrote that he would certify a “settlement class” encompassing other previously certified classes.
February 07, 2023
Jurors Reject Claims Against Tobacco Companies For Smoker’s Death From Lung Cancer

BOSTON — A Massachusetts state court jury has returned a defense verdict in favor of two tobacco companies sued by the widower of a dead smoker after rejecting his claims that the companies deceived the smoker into getting hooked as a teenager in the 1960s, which one tobacco company argued was disproven by the widower’s testimony that cigarette pack warnings had “no effect” on the smoker’s habit. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
February 07, 2023
Smoker’s Sister Seeks Attorney Fees After Defeat At Florida Supreme Court

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A dead smoker’s sister argues in a brief to the Florida Supreme Court that she is entitled to appellate attorney fees under Florida’s proposal for settlement (PFS) statute despite the court’s Jan. 5 affirmance of an appellate panel’s reversal of a jury’s punitive $16 million damages award in her favor because the court left intact a compensatory damages award that she says is far enough above her PFS to trigger the statute.
February 06, 2023
Altria Tells 9th Circuit It Isn’t Liable For Juul MDL Class Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — Tobacco company Altria Group Inc. and its subsidiaries in an opening brief to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals say a trial court wrongly certified two classes bringing claims against it for violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) as part of the multidistrict litigation against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI), writing that the claims arise out of sales of “JUUL products that Altria never designed, manufactured, or sold.”
February 01, 2023
Jury Awards $6M To Dead Smoker’s Children In Engle Trial

MIAMI — A Florida state court jury found that a dead smoker was an Engle class member and awarded the smoker’s two children $6 million in damages after finding that, contrary to a tobacco company’s arguments, her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) manifested during the Engle class membership period. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
January 31, 2023
Rival Nicotine Pouch Makers Settle Trade Secrets Dispute

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge recently wrote in a minute entry that two lawsuits pertaining to a trade secrets and patent dispute over the manufacturing and selling of nicotine pouches are resolved after the Swedish and American companies involved informed the court during a final pretrial conference that they have resolved all of their remaining disputes over the alleged misuse of trade secrets.
January 30, 2023
9th Circuit Grants Summary Affirmance In California Flavored Tobacco Ban Fight

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 27 granted summary affirmance as was sought by several tobacco companies and a retailers’ associations that brought a challenge to California’s voter-backed statewide ban on flavored tobacco products, which they seek to challenge before the U.S. Supreme Court as purportedly preempted under the Tobacco Control Act (TCA), 21 U.S.C. § 387p et seq.
January 27, 2023
Jury Awards Smoker’s Widow $5M For Lung Cancer Death

MIAMI — A Florida state court jury in an Engle case awarded $5 million to the widow and estate of a dead smoker but apportioned 40% of fault for the smoker’s death to himself after the widow argued that he got hooked on cigarettes at age 14 while a tobacco company lawyer argued that the smoker disregarded certain health risks and also used drugs such as cocaine and marijuana. VIDEO OF THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
January 25, 2023
Tobacco Companies Deny Liability For Smoker’s Death From Lung Cancer At Trial

BOSTON — A lawyer for a dead smoker’s family told a Massachusetts state court jury during opening statements that the tobacco industry’s conspiracy to conceal the risks of smoking led to the smoker’s addiction and death, while two tobacco companies each denied any liability for the smoker’s cancer based on the period of her life that she spent smoking each company’s products. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
January 25, 2023
Smoker Wasn’t Warned Of Addiction Risks, Jury Told In Engle Trial

MIAMI — The son of a dead smoker suing a tobacco company told a Florida state court jury during opening arguments that his mother wasn’t warned about the risk of addiction to cigarettes that caused her to smoke until she contracted chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), while the tobacco company’s lawyer said the smoker does not qualify as an Engle class member. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
January 25, 2023
En Banc 5th Circuit Grants Rehearing Of Vape Companies’ Challenge To FDA Ban

NEW ORLEANS — The en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals voted to grant en banc rehearing of two flavored vape companies’ petitions for review of the Food and Drug Administration’s decisions to ban the companies’ e-cigarette and e-liquid products, in a case in which the Fifth Circuit had first stayed enforcement of the FDA’s marketing denial order (MDO) before a split panel reversed course and denied the petitioners’ requests for review.
January 23, 2023
Juul MDL Judge Grants Preliminary Approval To $225M Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — The California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation against Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and its affiliates at a Jan. 20 hearing granted preliminary approval to the MDL plaintiffs’ proposed $225 million settlement to adult and minor consumers nationwide who allegedly suffered economic loss due to JLI’s deceptive marketing, which is one of four settlements between JLI and the plaintiffs.
January 20, 2023
Judge: Tobacco Companies’ Corrective Statements Deal Respects Retailers’ Rights

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Jan. 19 issued an opinion furnishing the reasoning for his prior approval of a consent order between tobacco companies, the United States and public health intervenors agreeing to the placement of “corrective statements” at retail point-of-sale (POS) displays warning customers of the dangers of tobacco use as was first ordered in 2006.
January 10, 2023
Judge Dismisses Counterclaims, Third-Party Suits In New York Tribe’s Smoke Shop Row

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A New York federal judge on Jan. 9 mostly dismissed counterclaims filed against the Cayuga Nation by the operators of a non-tribal smoke shop on the nation’s reservation for shutting down the shop and dismissed the operators’ third-party complaints against a tribal official in their entirety because the operators failed to show that he was acting in his individual capacity when they were evicted from the shop.
January 09, 2023
Judge Delays $117M Settlement Of Altria Shareholder Suit After Objections Filed

RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia federal judge who preliminarily approved a $117 million settlement of shareholder claims against tobacco company Altria Group Inc. for harming the company by investing in Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) ordered the parties to file briefs responding to objections from nonparty shareholders including two health groups that say the settlement is “ineffective” and allows “individual Altria Defendants who caused the Company significant damage [to] get off scot-free.”