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Mealey's Tobacco

January 09, 2023
Mistrial Declared In Dead Smoker’s Daughter’s Suit Against Tobacco Company

SANTA FE, N.M. — A mistrial was recently declared during jury deliberations in a lawsuit brought in New Mexico state court by the daughter of a late smoker who had accused a tobacco company of causing her father’s death from laryngeal cancer by defectively designing its cigarettes to be too addictive and too easily inhalable.
January 06, 2023
Citing Media Leaks, Altria Demands Details Of Juul’s MDL Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — Tobacco company Altria Group Inc. and its subsidiaries recently filed a motion in California federal court asking the judge overseeing federal multidistrict litigation against it and e-cigarette company Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) to order JLI to disclose the terms of its settlement of claims against it that leaked reports say is worth $1.7 billion and moved for a stay pending its appeal of a class certification order against it.
January 06, 2023
Panel Affirms Jurisdiction Over Juul Cofounders In N.Y. Deceptive Marketing Suit

NEW YORK — A New York state appellate court panel on Jan. 5 affirmed a trial court’s denial of a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the state attorney general against the cofounders of Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) for allegedly marketing e-cigarettes to youth and creating a public nuisance, finding that the court’s personal jurisdiction is proper as the cofounders repeatedly traveled to New York while planning an allegedly illegal marketing scheme that targeted the city.
January 05, 2023
Juul Enters $43 Million Settlement, Agrees To Reform Marketing, Texas AG Says

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Jan. 4 announced that Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) entered a $43 million settlement and agreed to new marketing restrictions to resolve claims brought against it by the state of Texas as part of a multistate investigation into JLI’s marketing, labeling and selling of its e-cigarette products in a manner that unlawfully targeted underage customers.
January 05, 2023
Florida Supreme Court Upholds Reversal Of $16M Punitive Award To Smoker’s Estate

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court on Jan. 5 ruled 5-1 that an appellate panel properly reversed a $16 million punitive damages jury award to a deceased smoker’s estate because it was unreasonably greater than the $300,000 compensatory damages award, with a dissenting justice writing that the majority erred by concluding that the smoker’s death “is not a cognizable injury for purposes of punitive damages claims.”
March 13, 2023
Florida Supreme Court Won’t Review Attorney Fees Award Reversal In Engle Case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court has denied a dead smoker’s husband’s petition for review of a split appellate panel’s reversal of a trial court’s $2.5 million attorney fee award in his favor, which the panel deemed unreasonable because the award represented a risk of double recovery on top of attorney fees another tobacco company agreed to pay in a settlement of his claims against it.
December 21, 2022
Juul MDL Plaintiffs Propose $225M Settlements For Economic Loss Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — Co-lead counsel representing plaintiffs in federal multidistrict litigation against Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and its affiliates moved for preliminary approval of a 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.
December 21, 2022
Expert Panel Flags Shortcomings In FDA’s Regulation Of E-Cigarettes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Reagan-Udall Foundation’s Independent Expert Panel for Tobacco submitted its recommendations to the Food and Drug Administration regarding the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), in which the experts cited stakeholder “concerns about a lack of clarity, transparency, and communication,” specifically regarding its regulation of e-cigarettes.
December 15, 2022
Panel Affirms $2.5M Verdict Against Philip Morris Citing Evidence Of Reliance

MIAMI — A Florida appellate court panel on Dec. 14 affirmed a $2.5 million compensatory damages verdict to the widow of a smoker who died from lung cancer at age 57 after rejecting a tobacco company’s argument that the widow failed to present evidence that the smoker relied to his detriment on misinformation about the health risks of smoking disseminated by tobacco industry representatives.
December 15, 2022
Juul To Pay $38.8M To Settle Pennsylvania’s Youth Marketing Suit

PHILADELPHIA — E-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and Pennsylvania recently entered a consent judgment resolving claims brought by the state attorney general accusing JLI of illegally and deceptively marketing its products to youth, with JLI agreeing to pay $38.8 million to the state and to implement corporate reforms.
December 14, 2022
4th Circuit Rejects Flavored Vape Makers’ Petition For Review Of FDA Ban

RICHMOND, Va. — In the latest blow to e-cigarette companies facing bans of their products, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a flavored vape company’s petition to vacate the Food and Drug Administration’s marketing denial order (MDO) banning sales of its products after finding that the FDA’s review was properly conducted and that the company failed to present evidence that the benefits of its products outweigh the “known risks to youth” they pose.
December 13, 2022
Supreme Court Won’t Enjoin California’s Voter-Backed Ban On Flavored Tobacco

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 12 denied an emergency application filed by tobacco companies and a retailers’ association seeking a writ of injunction pending appeal to bar California’s flavored tobacco ban from going into effect while the applicants’ Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenge to the law remains pending.
December 09, 2022
Judge Vacates FDA’s New Graphic Warnings Rule For Tobacco Products

TYLER, Texas — A Texas federal judge recently ruled that the Food and Drug Administration’s new graphic warnings rule for tobacco products violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and vacated the rule, after denying a government motion to dismiss or transfer a lawsuit filed by tobacco companies and retailers challenging the rule.
December 07, 2022
California Urges Supreme Court Not To Delay Voter-Backed Ban On Flavored Tobacco

SAN DIEGO — California on Dec. 6 urged the U.S. Supreme Court to deny an emergency application filed by tobacco companies and a retailers’ association seeking an injunction barring the state from banning sales of flavored tobacco products, writing that “not a single court has agreed” with the applicants’ argument that the Tobacco Control Act (TCA) preempts such bans and that any delay to the ban “imperils the health of more young people in California with each passing day.”
December 07, 2022
Tobacco Companies, U.S. End Dispute Over Court-Ordered ‘Corrective Statements’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Dec. 6 issued a court order implementing an agreement among tobacco companies, the United States and public health intervenors to comply with a 2006 court order requiring the placement of “corrective statements” at retail point-of-sale (POS) displays warning customers of the dangers of tobacco use.
December 07, 2022
Juul, MDL Plaintiffs Announce 4 Settlements Of Illegal Marketing Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and the co-lead counsel representing plaintiffs suing it in federal multidistrict litigation and a California state court coordinated proceeding announced Dec. 6 that they have reached four global settlements to resolve thousands of lawsuits against JLI for illegally marketing its products to youth and forcing government entities and tribes to divert resources to address youth vaping.
December 05, 2022
High Court Won’t Hear Cigar Maker’s Jurisdictional Challenge To Rival’s Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 5 denied a cigar maker’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of whether the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals properly heard a rival cigarillo maker and its parent company’s appeal challenging the vacatur of a $44 million verdict in their favor after they voluntarily dismissed their own claims.
December 05, 2022
Panel Reverses $3M Verdict To Dead Smoker’s Daughter For Lack Of Evidence

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida appellate panel reversed a jury’s nearly $3 million compensatory damages verdict in an Engle trial after finding that the court erred by not granting a tobacco company’s motion for directed verdict, writing that “the jury was left to speculate” after the smoker’s estate failed to present evidence of causation for his chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
December 05, 2022
Panel: Philip Morris Can’t Get New Trial After Mistrial In Punitive Phase

MIAMI — A Florida appellate panel affirmed a trial court’s denial of a tobacco company’s motion for a new trial on liability and compensatory damages that it filed after the jury awarded a smoker’s estate more than $5.5 million but deadlocked on the issue of punitive damages, ruling that the court did not abuse its discretion.
December 02, 2022
Judge Dismisses Complaint By Smoker Who Allegedly Just Learned Of Health Risks

ANDERSON, S.C. — A South Carolina federal judge has dismissed a pro se inmate’s lawsuit against two tobacco companies for failure to state a claim, in which the inmate claimed that he suffered health issues from smoking and was not aware of the risks of smoking until he saw a report on the risks of menthol cigarettes on the CBS news in April.
December 01, 2022
Defectively Designed Lucky Strikes Caused Smoker’s Cancer And Death, Jury Told

SANTA FE, N.M. — An attorney for the daughter of a late smoker told a New Mexico jury during opening arguments that a tobacco company caused the smoker’s slow and painful death from laryngeal cancer by defectively designing its cigarettes to be too addictive and too easily inhalable, while the company’s attorney said the smoker chose to smoke. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
December 01, 2022
Judge Finds Battery Maker Not Liable For Fatal Ship Fire Sparked By E-Cigarette

NEW ORLEANS— A Louisiana federal judge on Nov. 30 dismissed as moot the remaining motions relating to a Korean battery-maker and its U.S. subsidiary, one day after dismissing for lack of jurisdiction claims against them relating to the sale of a battery that caused an e-cigarette to explode on a tugboat, sparking a fire that killed one crew member and injured another.
November 30, 2022
Supreme Court Urged To Enjoin California’s Flavored Tobacco Ban

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tobacco companies and a retailers’ association on Nov. 29 filed an emergency application to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan as justice for the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, asking for a writ of injunction barring California from enacting a statewide ban of flavored tobacco product sales while they seek to challenge the Ninth Circuit’s binding precedent upholding a similar ban that they say was wrongly decided (R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, et al. v. Robert Bonta, et al., No. 22A474, U.S. Sup.).
November 29, 2022
L.A. Seeks Extension After High Court Requests Response In Flavored Tobacco Fight

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Los Angeles County and its Board of Supervisors on Nov. 28 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant it a one-month extension to file its response to three tobacco companies’ petition for a writ of certiorari challenging a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals split panel’s affirmance of L.A.’s ban on flavored tobacco products after the high court requested a response.
November 28, 2022
Florida Supreme Court Disposes Of Appeals Involving Split Over Engle Fraud Claims

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court on Nov. 23 disposed of four pending petitions involving Engle cases, applying its recent holding that Engle plaintiffs must prove individualized detrimental reliance to prevail on fraud claims, which was previously the subject of a split between state appellate courts.