Mealey's Tobacco
-
August 05, 2024
5th Circuit Vacates More FDA Marketing Denials For Flavored Vape Companies
NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated Food and Drug Administration marketing denial orders (MDOs) banning the products of five flavored vape companies after finding “no basis to distinguish this case” from an earlier en banc Fifth Circuit reversal of FDA flavored vape bans now pending before the U.S Supreme Court.
-
August 05, 2024
Florida High Court Won’t Review Engle Residency In $2.5M Win For Smoker’s Estate
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court on Aug. 2 denied two tobacco companies’ petition to review an appellate panel’s opinion affirming a $2.5 million verdict in favor of the estate of a smoker who died from lung cancer, declining to accept jurisdiction over the tobacco companies’ argument that the smoker was not an Engle member and primarily resided in New York.
-
August 02, 2024
Juul, Noteholders Settle Delaware Chancery Court Debt Conversion Row
WILMINGTON, Del. — A vice chancellor of the Delaware Chancery Court granted a joint stipulation settling all claims brought by a group of financial entities against Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) that had opposed a JLI plan to convert notes that they contended were worth $1.9 billion into less valuable equity in an alleged plan by “certain JUUL insiders to plunder the Company for their own benefit.”
-
August 02, 2024
Nicotine Pouch Consumer Files Putative Class Action Alleging False Youth Marketing
HARTFORD, Conn. — A consumer of Zyn nicotine pouches filed a putative class action in Connecticut federal court accusing Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) and Swedish Match North America LLC of violating Florida consumer protection statutes by targeting youth and deceptively advertising the products as a “safer and healthier alternative to smoking.”
-
July 30, 2024
Dead Smoker’s Kids Defend $6M Verdict Against Tobacco Company’s ‘Forgery’ Theory
MIAMI — A smoker’s children on Jan. 29 filed an answer brief in the Florida Third District Court of Appeal urging affirmance of a $6 million verdict against a tobacco company, arguing that the company’s argument that records of the dead smoker being diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were forged is undercut by other evidence introduced at trial.
-
July 29, 2024
Tribe Defends PACT Act Challenge From DOJ’s Bid For Summary Judgment
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A Native American tribe’s on July 26 filed its opposition in California federal court to a motion for summary judgment filed by U.S. government agencies and officials, arguing that disputes of fact exist regarding the tribes’ claims that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives improperly seeks to deem the tribe out of compliance with the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act.
-
July 25, 2024
Magistrate Judge Denies Bid To Stay Discovery In UCL Suit Against Vape Sellers
SAN DIEGO — A California federal magistrate judge on July 24 denied a group of online e-cigarette retailers’ ex parte motion to stay discovery in a lawsuit brought against them along with several Chinese e-cigarette manufacturers by e-cigarette maker NJOY LLC, an Altria Group Inc. subsidiary, for allegedly violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and federal cigarette regulations by illegally selling “Elf Bar”-brand flavored disposable vapes (FDVs).
-
July 23, 2024
FDA Asks Court To Drop Required Status Reports On E-Cigarette Approvals
BALTIMORE — The Food and Drug Administration on July 22 filed a motion in Maryland federal court asking for relief from a two-year-old order requiring it to provide the court regular status reports on its progress reviewing premarket tobacco applications (PMTA) for top-selling e-cigarette brands, writing that the “obligation has now outlived its original purpose” and that it should not be required to file reports about progress on the final pending PMTA.
-
July 10, 2024
Flavored Vape Wholesalers Remove New York’s Suit After Injunction Sought
NEW YORK — Two sellers of flavored disposable vapes removed state court claims brought against them by the city of New York to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, one week after the city moved for a preliminary injunction barring them and several other wholesalers of from continuing to sell vapes in violation of state and federal law.
-
July 10, 2024
Tobacco Company Not Liable For Smoker’s Laryngeal Cancer Death, Jury Says
MIAMI — A Miami-Dade County, Fla., 11th Judicial Circuit Court jury issued a verdict awarding no damages and finding a tobacco company not liable for claims that it defectively designed Virginia Slims cigarettes and caused a smoker’s death from laryngeal cancer. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
-
July 10, 2024
Health Groups Seek Hearing On ‘Political’ Delay Of Menthol Cigarette Ban
SAN FRANCISCO — Three health advocacy organizations filed supplementary materials in support of their motion for administrative relief seeking a hearing on the speed with which a California federal court hears their lawsuit accusing the Food and Drug Administration, affiliated agencies and their leaders of unlawfully delaying a federal ban of menthol cigarettes.
-
July 09, 2024
First Nations’ Cigarette Maker Asks To Stay Challenge To Oregon ‘Equity’ Law
EUGENE, Ore. — A Canadian First Nations-owned cigarette manufacturer and Oregon on July 8 filed a joint motion in Oregon federal court to stay the manufacturer’s lawsuit over the state’s new payment requirement based on cigarette sales pending the outcome of an appeal of a parallel state court ruling that the requirement violates the state Constitution.
-
July 09, 2024
Smoker’s Daughter Opposes Tobacco Companies’ ‘Survivor’ Challenge To $2.1M Verdict
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A smoker’s daughter in a July 8 brief urges a Florida appellate court to reject arguments by two tobacco companies that she is not the smoker’s “survivor” under the Wrongful Death Act and therefore is entitled to only $7,000 of a $2.1 million compensatory damages verdict, arguing that the tobacco companies’ seek to “rewrite” the statute.
-
July 09, 2024
Smoker’s Estate Opposes Florida High Court Review Of Engle Residency Requirements
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A smoker’s estate argues in an answer brief that the Florida Supreme Court should not review an appellate panel’s opinion affirming a $2.5 million verdict against two tobacco companies for the smoker’s death from lung cancer, writing that the panel’s holding that she was an Engle member despite also residing in New York does not conflict with any other case.
-
July 08, 2024
Menthol Vape Makers Urge High Court To Deny FDA’s Challenge To Forum
WASHINGTON, D.C. — R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJRV) and affiliated entities filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court opposing the Food and Drug Administration’s petition for a writ of certiorari challenging a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s finding of jurisdiction over RJRV and retailers’ challenge to an FDA ban of menthol-flavored e-cigarette products.
-
July 08, 2024
Court Dismisses Juul’s Petition After FDA Rescinds Marketing Denial Order
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed a petition for review filed by Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s marketing denial order (MDO) issued to JLI in 2022, granting JLI and FDA’s joint motion for dismissal filed after the FDA formally rescinded the MDO to conduct a new review of JLI’s products.
-
July 02, 2024
U.S. High Court Grants FDA’s Petition In Case Over Flavored E-Cig Regulations
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on July 2 granted a petition for certiorari filed by the Food and Drug Administration after the en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the FDA’s marketing denial orders (MDOs) for certain flavored e-cigarette products as arbitrary and capricious.
-
June 28, 2024
High Court Overrules Chevron Deference, Changes Standard For Regulatory Review
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 28 voted 6-3 to overrule the doctrine of Chevron deference as incompatible with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in two cases arising out of federal fishing regulations, changing governing precedent for federal courts reviewing agencies’ regulatory actions.
-
June 27, 2024
Former Juul Employee Must Arbitrate Gender Bias Claims, Judge Says
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted a motion by Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) to compel arbitration of a former employee’s claims that she faced gender discrimination after returning to work from maternity leave, finding that the former employee was bound by the arbitration agreement and failed to plead an exemption because she did not allege that sexual harassment occurred.
-
June 21, 2024
On Remand, Panel Applying New Precedent Dismisses Fraud Claims In Engle Case
MIAMI — A Florida appellate panel applying new Florida Supreme Court precedent holding that Engle plaintiffs must prove individualized detrimental reliance to prevail on fraud claims reversed a previously affirmed ruling on fraud claims in favor of a dead smoker’s estate and ordered a jury verdict reduced from $2.4 million to approximately $1.7 million.
-
June 20, 2024
Synthetic Nicotine Sellers, FDA Announce Settlement Of PMTA Refusal Dispute
TYLER, Texas — A synthetic nicotine products company and its retailer were joined by government officials on June 19 in filing a notice of settlement and motion to stay deadlines in Texas federal court, where the plaintiffs had challenged the Food and Drug Administration’s refusal to accept (RTA) of their premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) for synthetic nicotine products as a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
-
June 14, 2024
Florida Jury Awards $16M To Dead Smoker’s Widow And Son
MIAMI — A Florida state court jury in a June 13 Phase 2 verdict awarded $10 million in punitive damages against a tobacco company, which will be added to its previous compensatory damages award of $6 million, for causing a smoker’s addiction to nicotine and death from lung cancer. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
-
June 13, 2024
Philip Morris Urges Panel To Reduce $1M Award To Smoker’s Estate
MIAMI — A tobacco company in a June 12 brief to the Florida Third District Court of Appeal argues that a smoker’s estate didn’t present evidence that the smoker relied on tobacco company statements to support the jury’s finding of intentional tort liability and urges the court to reduce the estate’s $1 million verdict to $240,000.
-
June 11, 2024
Board: R.J. Reynolds’ Application For Cigarette Patent Properly Rejected
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Two prior art patents dating to the mid-1990s and assigned to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) have doomed the tobacco titan’s latest effort to patent a “smoking article,” with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on June 10 upholding an examiner’s rejection of 20 claims on grounds of obviousness.
-
June 11, 2024
DOJ Seeks Summary Judgment On Tribe’s Suit Challenging PACT Act Requirements
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — U.S. government agencies and officials filed a motion in California federal court for summary judgment on a tribe’s claims that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) should be barred from deeming the tribe out of compliance with the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, writing that PACT applies even though the tribe’s tobacco business exclusively deals with other tribes.