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Mealey's Tobacco

  • December 20, 2024

    Federal Circuit Affirms Infringement, Damages Findings In E-Cig Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A partially split panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 19 said a federal judge in North Carolina was right to deny judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) to electronic cigarette entity R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJR), affirming a jury’s award of more than $95 million against the company for infringing on another company’s pod-based tobacco vapor technology.

  • December 18, 2024

    Synthetic Nicotine Sellers Seek To Enjoin New Iowa Vape Regulation

    DES MOINES, Iowa — A vaping advocacy association and five businesses that sell synthetic nicotine-containing vape products on Dec. 17 filed a complaint and a motion for a preliminary injunction in Iowa federal court seeking to bar a new state law that would allow enforcement actions for sales of vape products not yet authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and contains no exception for synthetic nicotine products under FDA review.

  • December 18, 2024

    North Carolina Supreme Court Reverses State’s Tax Win On Tobacco Export Credits

    RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment against Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM) and in favor of the state’s Department of Revenue on a dispute over how much credit generated on tobacco exports PM is entitled to carry forward in future tax years.

  • December 18, 2024

    $91M Awarded To Smoker And Wife For His Laryngeal Cancer

    KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii — A Hawaii state court jury awarded $91 million to a smoker and his wife against a tobacco company they accused of causing him to become addicted to cigarettes and eventually develop laryngeal cancer, with the verdict comprising $6 million in compensatory damages and $85 million in punitive damages.  VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • December 17, 2024

    Menthol Vape Maker, Retailers Say Venue Of FDA Action Proper Under Tobacco Laws

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJRV) and affiliated companies urge the U.S. Supreme Court in their Dec. 16 merits brief to reject the Food and Drug Administration’s argument that they engaged in forum shopping by challenging FDA’s ban of RJRV vape products in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, writing that venue was proper under the Tobacco Control Act (TCA).

  • December 17, 2024

    Dead Smoker’s Family, Tobacco Companies Settle Wrongful Death Suit

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — Two notices of settlement were filed in California federal court by tobacco companies and the family members of a dead smoker who brought claims accusing the companies of causing his death from laryngeal cancer announcing that the parties have reached  settlements in principle and will file finalized settlements within two months.

  • December 16, 2024

    High Court Denies Tobacco Company’s Petition For Review Of Oregon Income Tax

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 16 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a New Mexico tobacco company seeking review of an en banc Oregon Supreme Court decision upholding a state Tax Court’s levying of more than $1 million in net income tax from the company based on sales to in-state wholesalers, which the tobacco company argued violated its immunity from such taxation under federal law.

  • December 10, 2024

    Massachusetts Jury Awards $10.6M To Family Of Smoker Who Died From Cancer At 59

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts state court jury awarded $10.6 million against a tobacco company, including $2.5 million in punitive damages in favor of the surviving family members of a woman who got hooked on cigarettes after being handed a free sample at age 12 and continued to smoke until her death from lung cancer in 2018 at age 59.

  • December 03, 2024

    Estate Of Decades-Long Daily Smoker Wins Nothing For Lung Cancer Death

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida state court jury returned a defense verdict and awarded no damages to the children of a woman who died from lung cancer in her late 70s after smoking cigarettes for more than six decades, rejecting Engle claims that two tobacco companies concealed the risks of smoking and caused her death. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • December 03, 2024

    Vape Shop Owners Sue To Block Rhode Island’s Flavored E-Cig Ban

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Two vape shop owners filed a complaint and motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island seeking to enjoin a state law banning sales of all flavored vape products in the state from taking effect in the new year, contending that the law is unconstitutional and “irrational” because it will allegedly drive vapers back to using combustible cigarettes.

  • December 02, 2024

    FDA Tells High Court It Properly Exercised Authority In Banning Flavored E-Cigs

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Food and Drug Administration defended its decisions to ban certain flavored e-cigarette products in oral arguments on Dec. 2 before the U.S. Supreme Court, asserting that Congress granted it the power to determine which products are “appropriate for the protection of public health,” while some justices questioned the argument of flavored e-liquid makers that the FDA changed its standards for review.

  • December 02, 2024

    Vaper Seeks Rehearing Of Claim For Exploding Battery That ‘Ruined His Hand’

    SAN FRANCISCO — An e-cigarette user has petitioned the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for rehearing en banc after it affirmed the dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction of his lawsuit against a South Korean battery maker for manufacturing and distributing a battery that allegedly exploded in his e-cigarette device, saying the Circuit Court’s decision was based on flawed “new precedent” that requires en banc review.

  • November 27, 2024

    High Court Distributes Tobacco Company’s Challenge To Oregon Income Tax

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 26 distributed a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a New Mexico tobacco company seeking review of an en banc Oregon Supreme Court decision upholding a state Tax Court’s levying of more than $1 million in net income tax from the company based on sales to in-state wholesalers, which the tobacco company says violated its immunity from such taxation under federal law.

  • November 26, 2024

    Citing Loper Bright, Macy’s Again Seeks Dismissal In Tobacco Surcharge Lawsuit

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — Amid a recent wave of at least 15 putative class actions challenging health plan tobacco surcharges, defendants in a similar suit the U.S. Department of Labor initiated seven years ago filed Nov. 25 motions in Ohio federal court calling Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo “a landmark change in the law” that supports dismissing the remaining claims against them.

  • November 26, 2024

    High Court To Review Delegated Oversight Of Telecommunications Subsidies

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has 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 a subsidy program to a private entity, both arising out of the en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that the program violates the “private nondelegation doctrine.”

  • November 25, 2024

    Federal Circuit Agrees: Electronic Pipe Patent Anticipated By Prior Art

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 22 affirmed a finding from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in an inter partes review (IPR) brought by tobacco company Philip Morris Products SA and its American subsidiary, agreeing with the PTAB’s holding that multiple claims in a patent on an electronic smoking pipe product were patent ineligible for being anticipated by prior art.

  • November 25, 2024

    High Court Won’t Review Tobacco Company, Retailers’ Challenge To Graphic Warnings

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 25 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by tobacco companies and retailers opposing a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling upholding the Food and Drug Administration’s new graphic warnings requirement on tobacco products under the Tobacco Control Act (TCA).  The petitioners’ challenge to the warnings in lower courts on administrative grounds remains pending.

  • November 22, 2024

    Altria Group, United States Both Seek Judgment In $106M Foreign Tax Dispute

    RICHMOND, Va. — The United States and tobacco company Altria Group Inc. entered new filings in Virginia federal court where they are disputing whether the U.S. Internal Revenue Service properly taxed Altria roughly $106 million for profits of a foreign entity it indirectly invested in under the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), with the United States filing a motion for relief or a deferral of discovery if the court denies its motion for judgment on the pleadings.

  • November 21, 2024

    Zyn Maker Accused Of Anticompetitive Tactics To Dominate Nicotine Pouch Market

    RICHMOND, Va. — A Zyn nicotine pouch consumer filed a putative class action in Virginia federal court accusing the pouch’s maker of violating state and federal antitrust laws and of unjust enrichment for allegedly conspiring with another tobacco company to create a monopoly, as well as intentionally slowing production of Zyns to artificially increase prices.

  • November 14, 2024

    FDA Tells High Court 5th Circuit Violated Venue Rule In Menthol Vape Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Food and Drug Administration in a Nov. 13 opening merits brief to the U.S. Supreme Court argues that a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel clearly violated the Tobacco Control Act (TCA) by finding jurisdiction over a challenge to an FDA ban of menthol-flavored e-cigarette products brought by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJRV) and affiliated entities, saying the ruling “invites unchecked forum shopping.”

  • November 11, 2024

    NYC Sues Long Island Distributors Over Illegal Flavored Vape Sales

    NEW YORK — New York City filed a lawsuit in New York federal court accusing a Long Island company and its owners and employees of violating federal, state and city laws by conducting online sales of flavored, disposable e-cigarette products, approximately 70% of which are resold in New York City without any payment of sales tax.

  • November 11, 2024

    After Reversal, Smoker’s Widow Wins No Punitive Damages At Engle Retrial

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida jury awarded no punitive damages to a dead smoker’s widow on her Engle claims against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) after a retrial on punitive damages following the Fourth District Florida Court of Appeal’s reversal of an earlier $2 million punitive damages award in the widow’s favor. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • November 07, 2024

    FDA Tells High Court E-Cig Companies, Amici Fail To Justify Ban’s Reversal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 6 filed its reply brief on the merits to the U.S. Supreme Court ahead of oral arguments next month, asserting that two flavored e-liquid makers and several amici curiae supporting them fail to properly defend an “aberrational” ruling by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversing an FDA ban of e-cigarette products, which is in the minority of a circuit split on the issue.

  • November 06, 2024

    Amici Tobacco Companies Support FDA’s Delay Of Menthol Cigarette Ban

    OAKLAND, Calif. — Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM) and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) filed amicus curiae briefs in California federal court in support of a motion by the Food and Drug Administration and affiliated agencies to dismiss a public health lawsuit demanding that the FDA enact a federal ban of menthol cigarettes, arguing that the plaintiffs lack standing and the FDA cannot be compelled to enact such a ban.

  • October 29, 2024

    ZYN User Denies Nicotine Pouch Youth Marketing Claims Are Preempted

    HARTFORD, Conn. — A consumer on Oct. 28 opposed a motion by Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) to dismiss as preempted his putative class action suit accusing it of violating Florida consumer protection statutes by deceptively advertising ZYN nicotine pouches as a “safer and healthier alternative to smoking” and targeting youth with its marketing and also opposed its motion to stay discovery.