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Mealey's Tobacco

June 17, 2022
Judge Finds Collateral Estoppel Bars 2nd Complaint For Exploding Vape Injuries

TYLER, Texas — A Texas federal judge on June 16 dismissed a man’s second lawsuit against a Korean battery-maker for injuries he sustained after a battery in his e-cigarette vape device exploded, finding that collateral estoppel bars his claims and that recent U.S. Supreme Court and Texas Supreme Court precedent does not alter the court’s lack of jurisdiction.
June 15, 2022
Judge Won’t Dismiss Chicago’s Suit Seeking Fines From Vape Companies

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on June 14 denied a motion to dismiss Chicago’s lawsuit against three vape companies and one affiliated individual for violating the city’s municipal code by allegedly advertising and selling tobacco products and e-liquids to minors, finding that the city may seek fines under its municipal code and that its claims are not time-barred.
June 13, 2022
Widow Tells Jury Tobacco Company Caused ‘Chain Smoker’ Husband’s Cancer

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida state court jury on June 9 heard opening arguments in a smoker’s widow’s Engle lawsuit against a tobacco company, with the widow’s attorney contending that the smoker was so addicted that he smoked two packs a day and smoked even while pumping gas into his car, while a tobacco company lawyer said the smoker was a “rugged” individual who knew the risks of smoking and chose to smoke anyway. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
June 13, 2022
Oregon Jurors Hear Opening Arguments In Smoker’s Family’s Lawsuit

PORTLAND, Ore. — Jurors in an Oregon state court on June 8 heard opening arguments in a product liability lawsuit brought by the estate of a smoker who died from lung cancer at age 63 and argued that he was duped into getting hooked on cigarettes as a teenager, while a tobacco company contended that the smoker chose to smoke and was aware of smoking’s health risks. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
June 10, 2022
Panel Reverses $560K Attorney Fee Award In Engle Case For ‘Bad Faith’ Openings

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida appellate panel on June 8 reversed an attorney fee award worth nearly $560,000 against a tobacco company as the panel found that the trial court improperly sanctioned the company by ordering it to pay the plaintiffs’ fees for the entire trial based only on the company’s “bad faith” arguments made during openings.
June 09, 2022
Florida Supreme Court Won’t Hear Defeated Engle Plaintiff’s Fallback Argument

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court on May 17 denied a motion for rehearing by an Engle plaintiff who urged the court after it affirmed the vacatur of her $6.4 million compensatory damages award to address her fallback argument that the appellate panel erred by vacating the compensatory award due to failure to argue reliance in support of her fraud claim, for which no damages were awarded.
June 09, 2022
Florida Supreme Court Questions Ratio-Based Reversal Of $16M Engle Punitive Award

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court on June 9 heard oral arguments regarding whether a $16 million punitive damages jury award to a deceased smoker’s sister in an Engle case was properly reversed because it was more than 50 times greater than the jury’s compensatory damages award, with the sister’s counsel arguing that the award should be reinstated in part because larger punitive awards in similar cases resulting in death have been upheld.
June 06, 2022
Juul MDL Judge Denies Several Defense Daubert Motions

SAN FRANCISCO — The California federal judge overseeing the Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) multidistrict litigation on June 2 denied several defense motions to exclude expert opinions regarding whether JLI and related entities illegally designed and marketed its e-cigarettes to cause a surge in youth vaping, but deferred consideration of certain challenges to experts’ opinions on e-cigarettes’ health effects.
June 03, 2022
Judge Stays New York Tribe’s Smoke Shop Suit In Deference To Tribal Court Action

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A New York federal judge on June 2 stayed a racketeering suit filed by the Cayuga Nation against the operators of a non-tribal smoke shop on the nation’s reservation pending the resolution of a related case filed in the Cayuga Nation Civil Court.
May 26, 2022
Jury Awards Low Damages For Smoker’s Cancer, Finds Tobacco Company 10% At Fault

MIAMI — A Florida state court jury on May 17 awarded a smoker $150,000 in compensatory damages for pain and suffering caused by lung cancer he was diagnosed with after smoking Winston cigarettes for nearly 50 years in his lawsuit against a tobacco company but also found the smoker 90% at fault for his lung cancer. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
May 26, 2022
Company Had Duty To Disclose Knowledge Of SEC Investigation To Investors

NEW YORK — A federal district court partially erred in dismissing shareholder claims that a company that genetically engineers tobacco and cannabis plants to regulate the nicotine levels or cannabinoids of the plants and two of its former executive officers violated federal securities laws by concealing a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the weakness of the company’s financial controls because the defendants had a duty to disclose the investigation to investors but did not, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in vacating and affirming in part on May 24.
May 20, 2022
Panel Finds No Jurisdiction Over Korean Battery Maker In Exploding Vape Case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida appellate panel on May 18 reversed a trial court and found that the court lacked personal jurisdiction under Florida’s long-arm statute over a Korean battery maker for claims brought by a man who was injured when batteries inside his vape exploded.
May 18, 2022
7 Vape Companies Ask 11th Circuit For 2nd Shot At PMTAs

MIAMI — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 17 questioned counsel for seven flavored vape companies as to whether the Food and Drug Administration’s issuance of marketing denial orders (MDOs) denying their premarket tobacco applications (PMTAs) was arbitrary and capricious given the FDA’s authority to restrict tobacco products based on risk to youth.
May 17, 2022
Review Of Top E-Cigarette PMTAs Could Last Until June 2023, FDA Tells Court

BALTIMORE — In a May 13 status report ordered by a Maryland federal judge on its progress reviewing premarket tobacco applications (PMTA) for newly deemed tobacco products such as e-cigarettes, the Food and Drug Administration said it expects to have taken action on 51% of the PMTAs for top-selling e-cigarette brands such as Juul Labs Inc. by June 30 and to reach 100% by June 30, 2023.
May 17, 2022
Judge Denies Reconsideration Of Battery Maker’s Bid To Dismiss Exploding Vape Case

ST. LOUIS — A Missouri federal judge on May 12 denied a Korean battery-maker’s motion to reconsider his ruling denying dismissal of a personal injury lawsuit brought by a man who was injured by exploding batteries in his vape device and denied its alternative request to certify an interlocutory appeal, writing that the case presents a different “factual record” than in similar cases against the same defendant that have all been dismissed.
May 12, 2022
Panel Says Court-Ordered Deposition Of Juul Cofounder ‘Irrelevant’ To Engle Trial

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida appellate panel on May 11 reversed a trial court’s order denying Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and its co-founder James Monsees’ motion for a protective order and quashed the court’s ordered deposition of Monsees for use by an Engle plaintiff in a pending trial, writing that the evidence would be “irrelevant” to the plaintiffs’ pending claims against a tobacco company.
May 12, 2022
Panel Reverses $157M Verdict In Engle Case, Rejects Exception For Same-Sex Couple

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida appellate panel on May 11 reversed a $157 million Engle verdict to the widower of a deceased smoker and ordered a new trial based on multiple issues, with one judge dissenting from the majority’s finding that the court erred by allowing the widower to pursue noneconomic damages based on the theory that the couple would have been married at the time the smoker’s illness manifested if same-sex marriage had been legal at that time.
May 12, 2022
9th Circuit Won’t Rehear Tobacco Companies’ Challenge To Flavored Tobacco Ban

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 11 denied three tobacco companies’ petition for rehearing en banc of their challenge to Los Angeles County’s ban on flavored tobacco product sales, with only the circuit judge who dissented from a split panel’s affirmance voting to rehear the tobacco companies’ argument that the county’s ban is preempted by federal authority under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA).
May 12, 2022
Juul MDL Judge Sets 3 New Tribal Bellwethers To Proceed Into Discovery

SAN FRANCISCO — The California federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and related entities on May 9 selected the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes as the third tribal bellwether plaintiff that, along with two other tribes selected by the parties, will now proceed into discovery and potentially trial on the tribes’ claims that the defendants targeted them with deceptive marketing about e-cigarettes.
May 09, 2022
Federal Circuit Affirms Customs Added Tax Liability For Cigar Wrap Importer

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 6 affirmed a Court of International Trade ruling denying a tobacco importer’s motion for summary judgment in its challenge to excise tax leveled on its imported cigar wraps by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that the importer contended was based on an improper measurement of weight.
May 09, 2022
Florida Supreme Court Passes On Review Of $10M Engle Verdict’s Reversal

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court on April 28 declined to accept jurisdiction over a smoker’s daughter’s petition for review of an appellate panel’s reversal of a $10 million Engle verdict in her favor due to improper and inflammatory closing arguments by plaintiff’s counsel, including comparing tobacco companies to Big Brother in George Orwell’s “1984” and calling them an “enterprise of death.”
May 09, 2022
Smoker Sues Walgreens For Selling Menthol Cigarettes Without Warning Of Risk

MIAMI — A smoker filed a putative class complaint on May 5 in a Florida federal court against Walgreen Co., alleging that the pharmacy-retail chain sold her Marlboro menthol cigarettes without warning her that menthols are “are far more dangerous and addictive than any other type of cigarette available to consumers,” citing a recently proposed Food and Drug Administration rule that would ban menthols.
May 06, 2022
Panel Affirms $2.5M Verdict In Engle Case, Citing Evidence Of Reliance

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida appellate panel on May 4 affirmed a $2.5 million compensatory damages verdict in favor of the daughter of a deceased smoker after finding that evidence the smoker switched to an allegedly “low-tar” cigarette brand for health reasons established that he detrimentally relied on the tobacco company’s misleading statements.
May 06, 2022
Tobacco Companies, Retailers, U.S. Agree On Court-Ordered ‘Corrective Statements’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge in a May 5 docket-only minute order granted a joint motion by tobacco manufacturers, the United States and public health intervenors to delay an evidentiary hearing on implementation of a 2006 court order regarding the placement of “corrective statements” at retail point-of-sale (POS) displays after the parties on May 3 said they have agreed on remaining issues in dispute.
May 05, 2022
Judge Finds No Jurisdiction Over Vape Company’s Claims For Unpaid Refund

DALLAS — A Texas federal judge on May 3 granted three defendants’ motion to dismiss claims against them for failing to fulfill a Texas vape company’s purchase of approximately $737,000 worth of Juul pods and refunding only half the purchase after finding that “no Defendant established minimum contacts with Texas for any claim asserted.”