Mealey's Tobacco
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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order (MDO) issued to JLI in 2022, granting JLI and FDA’s joint motion for dismissal filed after the FDA formally rescinded the MDO to conduct a new review of JLI’s products.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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June 10, 2024
FDA Defends Ban Of Tobacco-Flavored Bidi Sticks Before 11th Circuit
ATLANTA — The Food and Drug Administration on June 7 filed a response brief urging the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold its marketing denial order (MDO) banning sales of Bidi Vapor LLC’s tobacco-flavored Bidi sticks, writing that Bidi’s products are highly addictive and that the company did not address concerns about the products’ chemical composition.
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June 07, 2024
Fla. Supreme Court Lifts Stay On Husband’s Appeal Of Reversed $157M Engle Verdict
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After issuing a recent opinion in a tagged case, the Florida Supreme Court on June 6 lifted a two-year stay on an appeal filed by a dead smoker’s widower of an appellate panel’s reversal of a $157 million Engle verdict and ordered two tobacco companies to show cause why it should not quash the reversal and remand the case in light of new precedent.
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June 07, 2024
Smoker’s Daughter Can Pursue Punitives Despite Past Verdicts, Florida Panel Says
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida appellate panel affirmed a trial court’s ruling allowing a dead smoker’s daughter to add a claim for punitive damages to her wrongful death complaint against two tobacco companies, rejecting the companies’ argument that her claim is barred by Florida’s punitive damages statute because they have previously paid “hundreds of millions” of dollars in punitive damages for similar claims.
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June 07, 2024
FDA Announces Recission Of Juul Marketing Denial Order After 2-Year ‘Ban’
SILVER SPRINGS, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration on June 6 announced that it had rescinded its marketing denial order (MDO) issued to Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) in 2022, banning sales of its products in the United States, which was later administratively stayed for a re-review of JLI products after it sued the FDA.
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June 06, 2024
Tobacco Companies Urge Florida High Court To Review Engle Residency Requirements
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Two tobacco companies on June 5 filed a petition with the Florida Supreme Court urging it to review the affirmance of a $2.5 million verdict against them for the death from lung cancer of a woman who resided for a significant portion of her life in New York, arguing that an appellate panel’s interpretation of Engle membership residency requirements conflicts with Engle and other Florida cases.
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June 05, 2024
Florida Jury Awards Smoker’s Daughters $9.3M After Retrial
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida state court jury awarded more than $9.3 million to the three daughters of an addicted smoker who died after contracting coronary artery disease (CAD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), one decade after an earlier verdict for one-third of the damages against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) was set aside by the trial judge. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
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June 05, 2024
Supreme Court Sets Conference Date For Challenges To FDA Flavored E-Cig Regulations
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 4 scheduled a conference for four pending petitions for writs of certiorari all relating to a circuit split over whether the Food and Drug Administration’s bans of certain flavored e-cigarette products was arbitrary and capricious or if the bans were properly issued under the Tobacco Control Act (TCA).
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June 03, 2024
Panel Agrees Smoker’s Estate Can Seek Attorney Fees Despite Partial Reversal
TAMPA, Fla. — A Second District Florida Court of Appeal panel on June 3 granted a smoker’s estate’s unopposed motion for rehearing and provisionally granted the estate’s motion for appellate attorney fees despite previously partly reversing a verdict in its favor against a tobacco company and reducing a $15.5 million verdict to $3.5 million, finding that the estate is still possibly entitled to fees.
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June 03, 2024
Patent, Trade Dress Row Over Vape Design Will Proceed Without Injunction
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois overseeing a dispute between competing vape makers has rejected as premature a motion to dismiss counterclaims of design patent and trade dress infringement as well as a motion by the counterclaimant for a preliminary injunction.
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May 29, 2024
D.C. Circuit Dismisses Appeal Of Warnings On Philip Morris’ ‘HeatSticks’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 28 entered an order of dismissal after appellant Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM), appellee the United States and health group intervenors filed a joint stipulation agreeing to dismiss PM’s challenge to a ruling that its new “HeatSticks” tobacco products must bear “corrective statements” required on cigarettes.
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May 28, 2024
Judge Partly Dismisses NYC’s Suit Against Flavored Disposable Vape Sellers
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on May 24 granted in part and denied in part three motions to dismiss filed by individuals and entities accused by the city of New York of illegally selling flavored disposable vapes (FDVs) in the city in violation of federal, state and city laws, finding that the city failed to sufficiently plead its racketeering claims but properly alleged that the defendants have caused a public nuisance by contributing to a vaping “public health crisis.”
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May 22, 2024
5th Circuit Won’t Rehear Challenge To Graphic Warnings On Tobacco Products
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 21 denied tobacco companies and retailers’ petition for rehearing of its ruling upholding the Food and Drug Administration’s right to require graphic warnings on tobacco products depicting the lesser-known health risks of tobacco use and reversing a lower court ruling vacating the requirement.
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May 21, 2024
Menthol Vape Makers Ask High Court For More Time To Answer FDA Petition
WASHINGTON, D.C. — R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJRV) and affiliated entities on May 21 asked the U.S. Supreme Court for additional time to respond to the Food and Drug Administration’s petition for a writ of certiorari challenging a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s jurisdiction to review an FDA ban of menthol-flavored e-cigarette products.
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May 21, 2024
FDA Urges High Court To Deny Menthol Vape Company’s Petition Challenging Ban
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court opposing a vape company’s petition for a writ of certiorari, arguing that it need not review a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling upholding FDA’s ban of the company’s products and should instead grant certiorari in a petition it has filed challenging a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling on a similar matter.
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May 20, 2024
Flavored E-Cig Companies Say Supreme Court Need Not Review Reversal Of FDA Ban
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two flavored e-liquid companies filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on May 17 opposing the Food and Drug Administration’s petition for a writ of certiorari challenging the en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal of FDA’s ban of their products as “arbitrary,” writing that the ruling does not require review when other pending e-cigarette petitions for certiorari present better vehicles to review circuit splits on the topic.