Mealey's Tobacco
-
April 08, 2024
New York City Sues Wholesalers In State Court For Selling Flavored, Disposable Vapes
NEW YORK — New York City filed a complaint in state court seeking injunctive relief and civil penalties against 11 New York state-based wholesalers of flavored and disposable e-cigarette products, which it describes as the “most popular electronic nicotine delivery device among young people,” that the defendants have illegally resold in the city.
-
April 04, 2024
Court Enters Defense Judgment In Smoker’s Widower’s Wrongful Death Suit
BOSTON — A Massachusetts state court judge on April 3 entered judgment in favor of two tobacco companies and a local retailer, dismissing all claims brought by the widower of a dead smoker who started smoking around age 10 and smoked for 50 years before dying at 65 from lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
-
April 04, 2024
Judgment Entered Dismissing Smoker’s Daughter’s Suit Against Tobacco Company
BOSTON — A Massachusetts state court entered a judgment in favor of a tobacco company after a jury awarded no damages to the daughter of a dead smoker who was diagnosed with lung cancer more than 25 years after quitting smoking. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
-
April 03, 2024
Health Groups Accuse FDA Of ‘Unlawfully Delaying’ Menthol Cigarette Ban
SAN FRANCISCO — Three health advocacy organizations on April 2 filed a second lawsuit in California federal court accusing the Food and Drug Administration, affiliated agencies and their leaders of unlawfully delaying a federal ban of menthol cigarettes, writing that the FDA has failed to act on its announced plans to issue a rule banning menthols by August 2023.
-
April 02, 2024
Vice Chancellor Denies Philip Morris’ Bid To Intervene In Brand Liability Dispute
WILMINGTON, Del. — A vice chancellor of the Delaware Chancery Court on April 1 denied as untimely a motion by Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM) to intervene in litigation between Reynolds American Inc. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (collectively, RJR) and ITG Brands LLC regarding ITG’s liability under a settlement with Florida for sales of cigarette brands ITG bought from RJR.
-
April 01, 2024
First Nations’ Cigarette Maker Says New Oregon ‘Equity’ Law Violates Due Process
EUGENE, Ore. — A Canadian First Nations-owned cigarette manufacturer filed a suit in Oregon federal court against the state, accusing it of violating due process and the commerce clause by imposing a new nonrefundable payment requirement based on cigarette sales that replaces a decades-old law whereby such payments by cigarette manufacturers went into escrow and were eventually refunded.
-
March 29, 2024
Small E-Liquid Makers Urge Court To Find FDA Rules Unfairly ‘Burdensome’
SHERMAN, Tex. — A Texas federal judge accepted as timely a brief filed by a group of small e-liquid makers and a vaping industry association, in which they oppose a cross-motion for summary judgment filed by the Food and Drug Administration and two officials seeking dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims that federal regulation of vaping is so “burdensome” it effectively bars small companies from entering the market.
-
March 28, 2024
Split Florida Panel Reverses $43M Verdict To Dead Smoker’s Son Due To Hearsay
MIAMI — A split Florida Third District Court of Appeal panel on March 27 reversed a $43 million compensatory and punitive damages verdict in favor of the estate of a dead smoker after finding that the trial court reversibly erred by permitting the smoker’s sons to proffer hearsay evidence indicating that their mother was harmed by her reliance on a tobacco company’s misleading claims about the benefits of cigarette filters.
-
March 26, 2024
High Court Shouldn’t Review 2nd Circuit Affirmance Of Flavored Vape Ban, FDA Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Food and Drug Administration on March 25 filed a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court opposing a flavored vape company’s petition for a writ of certiorari, stating that the court should instead grant certiorari in a petition the FDA filed challenging a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling reversing its bans of e-cigarette products because that case is “the only vehicle for deciding the full range of legal issues raised.”
-
March 22, 2024
5th Circuit Reverses Vacatur Of New Graphic Warnings For Tobacco Products
NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 21 reversed the vacatur of Food and Drug Administration graphic warnings requirement for tobacco products, writing that the warnings depicting lesser-known health risks of tobacco use “survive constitutional muster against the First Amendment challenge” brought by tobacco companies and remanding the case.
-
March 22, 2024
FDA Urges Supreme Court To Find Flavored E-Cig Bans Not ‘Arbitrary’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Food and Drug Administration filed a petition for a writ of certiorari urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that its ban of two vape companies’ flavored e-liquids was “arbitrary and capricious,” arguing that the high court should resolve a circuit split on the issue and side with the majority of circuit courts that have affirmed similar bans.
-
March 22, 2024
Tobacco Companies Say Smoker’s Daughter Not Entitled To $2.1M Verdict
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Two tobacco companies in a brief filed to the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal challenge a $2.1 million compensatory damages verdict they were ordered to pay the widower of a dead smoker who died while the appeal was pending, arguing that the estate’s new representative, his daughter, is not the smoker’s statutory survivor and therefore can claim only roughly $7,000 in funeral expenses.
-
March 18, 2024
E-Cig MDL Judge Issues Order Granting Final Approval Of $45M Altria Settlement
SAN FRANCISCO — The California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and tobacco company Altria Group Inc. and its subsidiaries issued written final approval of a $45 million settlement to resolve economic loss claims brought by class members who purchased JLI products in reliance upon misleading information about its addictiveness and health risks.
-
March 15, 2024
Florida Supreme Court Won’t Reinstate Engle Lawyer Due To Improper Rehabilitation
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court denied a petition for reinstatement to the state bar by an attorney who was suspended in 2022 for filing thousands of Engle progeny lawsuits “without investigating or informing himself as to the facts of each case and for knowingly misrepresenting the viability of the claims.”
-
March 13, 2024
En Banc 5th Circuit Panel Won’t Amend Ruling Reversing Flavored E-Cig Ban
NEW ORLEANS — Members of the en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals majority that previously reversed a Food and Drug Administration ban of two vape companies’ flavored e-cigarette products as arbitrary and capricious on March 12 denied the companies’ motion to clarify the opinion’s reference to FDA approval of menthol e-cigarette products, writing that the reference was to a heat-not-burn product.
-
March 11, 2024
E-Cig MDL Judge: ‘Millions Of Fraudulent Claims’ Filed In $45M Altria Settlement
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and tobacco company Altria Group Inc. and its subsidiaries said at a hearing that he would grant final approval to a $45 million settlement with Altria and is “inclined” to approve a 30% attorney fee award, while also advising plaintiffs’ counsel to contact federal prosecutors regarding “millions of fraudulent claims” that were submitted.
-
March 11, 2024
Mass. High Court Upholds Town’s Ban On Tobacco Sales To People Born After 2000
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on March 8 upheld a Brookline, Mass., town bylaw banning sales of tobacco products to people born after 2000, rejecting arguments by local tobacco retailers that the town’s law is arbitrary and preempted by state law.
-
March 11, 2024
Judge Won’t Overturn Jury’s $2.3M Verdict In Tobacco Rolling Papers Dispute
ATLANTA — A Georgia federal judge denied two defense motions asking the court to deem excessive or reduce a $2.3 million jury verdict against them for trademark infringement against a rolling papers company and order a new trial, finding that the jury properly weighed the evidence and that its verdict was proper.
-
March 08, 2024
Smoker’s Estate’s Claims Against Tobacco Company, Retailers Rejected By Jury
SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico state court jury returned a defense verdict on wrongful death claims brought by the estate of a decades-long Marlboro Red smoker who was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer before catching COVID-19 and dying in 2020, ruling in favor of cigarette manufacturer R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) and two local retailers. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
-
March 07, 2024
Smoker’s Widow Can’t Seek Punitives For ‘Same Course Of Conduct,’ Panel Rules
MIAMI — A Florida Third District Court of Appeal panel on March 6 affirmed a trial court’s grant of summary judgment on a smoker’s widow’s claim for punitive damages against a tobacco company, ruling in part that under Florida’s punitive damages statute, the widow’s claim for punitive damages failed because it was for the “same course of conduct” for which the company was previously ordered to pay $198 million in other Engle cases.
-
March 07, 2024
Cigarette Warnings Improperly Imposed On ‘HeatSticks,’ Amici Tell D.C. Circuit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Cigarette manufacturers R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) and ITG Brands LLC filed an amicus curiae brief in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals supporting Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM) in its appeal of a district court ruling that its “HeatSticks” tobacco products are bound by a “corrective statements” remedy imposed on PM and other tobacco companies in 2006 for concealing the health risks of cigarettes.
-
March 07, 2024
Smoker’s Daughter Properly Allowed To Pursue Punitives, Florida Panel Told
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A dead smoker’s daughter filed an appellee brief urging a Florida appellate panel to affirm a trial judge’s order allowing her to add a claim for punitive damages to her wrongful death complaint against two tobacco companies, while the companies argue that the claim is barred by Florida’s punitive damages statute because they have already been ordered to pay punitive damages for “the same act or single course of conduct.”
-
March 06, 2024
Judge Dismisses Smoker’s Widow’s Wrongful Death Suit For Failure To Prosecute
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — A New Mexico federal judge granted several tobacco companies’ motions to dismiss a wrongful death suit brought against them by the widow of a dead smoker after finding that the plaintiff failed to appear for, respond to or prosecute her suit after the companies removed the case to federal court.
-
March 04, 2024
Consumer Claims Zyn Nicotine Pouches Caused Addiction, Dental Health Issues
SAN DIEGO — In a putative class action product liability complaint filed in California federal court on March 1, a user of “Zyn” flavored nicotine pouches accuses manufacturer Swedish Match North America LLC and parent company Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) of concealing the health risks posed by their product.
-
March 04, 2024
Dead Smoker’s Son Deserves New Trial Due To Flawed Jury Selection, Panel Told
MIAMI — A dead smoker’s son argues in an appellant brief filed in Florida appellate court that it should reverse a defense verdict deeming his claims against a tobacco company for causing his mother’s chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and death time-barred, arguing that the court’s jury selection procedures were improper and that the court wrongly granted summary judgment on his intentional tort claims.