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Mealey's Tobacco

October 31, 2023
Juul, Altria Seek To Compel Arbitration Of E-Cig Buyers’ Antitrust Complaint

SAN FRANCISCO — E-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and two of the company’s directors moved in California federal court to compel arbitration and stay or strike and dismiss an antitrust class complaint accusing JLI and Altria Group Inc. of artificially increasing prices based on anti-competitive conduct, writing that the claims are based on a Federal Trade Commission complaint that has since been withdrawn.
October 31, 2023
Vuse Maker, Retailers Oppose FDA’s Bid To Dismiss Or Transfer Challenges To Ban

NEW ORLEANS — R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJRV) and affiliates on Oct. 30 filed a brief in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opposing the Food and Drug Administration’s motion to dismiss or transfer their petition for review of FDA’s decision banning sales of RJRV’s menthol- and berry-flavored Vuse e-cigarette products, writing that the Fifth Circuit has previously rejected challenges to venue concerning the same parties.
October 31, 2023
Amici Urge Supreme Court To Overturn California’s Flavored Tobacco Ban

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of e-cigarette businesses and industry associations on Oct. 30 filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court urging it to grant a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a tobacco companies and a retailers’ association that are challenging the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmance of California’s flavored tobacco ban, asserting that the ban interferes with federal regulation of e-cigarettes.
October 24, 2023
Smoker’s Daughter Urges Florida Panel To Uphold $1.3M Jury Verdict

MIAMI — A dead smoker’s daughter in her answer brief urges the Florida Third District Court of Appeals to reject two tobacco companies’ challenge to a jury’s $1.3 million verdict issued in her favor after the jury found that the companies caused her father’s addiction to nicotine, leading him to become a chain smoker for more than 40 years.
October 24, 2023
Split 3rd Circuit Panel Upholds FDA Ban Of Menthol Vape Products

PHILADELPHIA — A split Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a vape company’s petition for review of the Food and Drug Administration’s decision banning its menthol-flavored vape products, with the majority finding that the FDA properly reviewed and denied the company’s applications while a dissenting judge said the FDA improperly changed its policy on menthol-flavored products with the company’s application pending.
October 20, 2023
NJOY Sues 30 Sellers Of Disposable Flavored Vapes For Violating California Laws

LOS ANGELES — E-cigarette maker NJOY LLC, a subsidiary of Altria Group Inc., on Oct. 19 filed a complaint in California federal court against 30 manufacturers of flavored disposable vapes (FDVs), accusing them of harming its business by selling flavored tobacco products without Food and Drug Administration approval in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and a statewide ban on flavored tobacco sales.
October 18, 2023
Washington Panel: Tribes Have Inherent Authority To Tax Tobacco On Reservations

SEATTLE — An arbitration panel fundamentally misunderstood tribal sovereignty when it found that tribal excise taxes on tobacco sales on reservations in Washington were authorized by the state through compact agreements it entered into with several tribes after the state had reached a settlement with tobacco companies over cigarette sales, a Washington appellate panel held in affirming a trial court’s interpretation of the terms of the legislation that was enacted in accordance with the settlement.
October 16, 2023
Supreme Court Grants Certiorari In 2nd Challenge To Chevron Deference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 13 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari in a second case challenging the doctrine of Chevron deference and ordered that it be briefed on a schedule allowing argument “in tandem” with a pending case pertaining to the same issue, both of which involve challenges to regulations that require fishing vessels to pay federal monitors.
October 10, 2023
High Court Won’t Review Flavored Vape Companies’ Challenge To FDA Ban

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 10 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a group of affiliated flavored vape companies seeking review of a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling upholding the Food and Drug Administration’s ban of their products, which the companies said was improperly based on changed evidentiary standards and disregarded their marketing to plan to limit underage use.
October 09, 2023
Jury Awards $1M To Estate Of Dead Smoker Who Immigrated From Cuba

MIAMI — A Florida state court jury awarded $800,000 in compensatory damages and $200,000 in punitive damages to the estate of a Cuban immigrant who died from smoking-related injuries while living in Florida, after an appellate panel reversed and remanded a 2016 defense verdict in which jurors said the decedent was not an Engle member because he was not a citizen or resident of Florida when his cancer manifested. VIDEO OF THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
October 09, 2023
Hawaii Jury Awards Smoker $14M For Lung Cancer

HONOLULU — A Hawaii state court jury awarded a smoker $6 million in compensatory damages and $8 million in punitive damages against a tobacco company that she accused lulled into her smoking light and filtered cigarettes believing they were safer and causing her to develop lung cancer. VIDEO OF THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
October 09, 2023
New Mexico Jury Rejects Smoker’s Estate’s Claims Against Tobacco Company

SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico state court jury returned a defense verdict after rejecting a smoker’s estate’s claims that a tobacco company was negligent, conspired to conceal the risks of smoking or that the company and a local retailer provided the smoker with a defective product that caused his death in 2021 from starvation and suffocation resulting from surgeries and treatments he received for oral cancer. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
October 06, 2023
Boston Jury Awards $200M To Estate Of Smoker Hooked By Free Samples As Child

BOSTON — A Massachusetts state court jury awarded the estate of a dead smoker $50 million in compensatory damages and $150 million in punitive damages after hearing evidence that the smoker died from lung cancer decades after she was hooked by a tobacco company marketing scheme involving distribution of free samples to teenagers. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
October 04, 2023
Damages Owed By Cigarette Brands Buyer Must Go To Trial, Vice Chancellor Says

WILMINGTON, Del. — A vice chancellor of the Delaware Chancery Court granted summary judgment in favor of Reynolds American Inc. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (collectively, RJR) on its “entitlement to indemnification for the settlements payments made to Florida” under a state settlement that arose out of brands it previously sold to ITG Brands LLC, currently worth more than $198 million, but said the case must proceed to trial to “determine the precise amount that Reynolds may recover.”
October 04, 2023
FDA Appeals Vacatur Of Premium Cigar Rules To D.C. Circuit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and their secretaries appealed to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a federal judge’s order of vacatur, issued subsequent to a ruling that the FDA’s rules for premium cigar regulation are “arbitrary and capricious” and were issued without consideration of “pertinent evidence.”
October 04, 2023
Smoker’s Estate Tells Jury Tobacco Company Concealed Cancer Risks

SANTA FE, N.M. — A smoker’s estate told a New Mexico state court jury during opening arguments that a tobacco company’s concealment of the health risks of its products caused a Marlboro smoker’s death from cancer, while a lawyer for the tobacco company contended that the smoker chose to go back to cigarettes and continued smoking after his father died of a smoking-related disease. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
October 03, 2023
Judge: Synthetic Nicotine Sellers Unlikely To Prove FDA Illegally Refused PMTAs

TYLER, Texas — A Texas federal judge rejected a synthetic nicotine products company and its retailer’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the Food and Drug Administration in relation to its refusal to accept (RTA) orders issued in response to the companies premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs), finding the plaintiffs unlikely to succeed on the merits as FDA does not appear to have violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
September 29, 2023
Supreme Court Asks California To Respond To Flavored Tobacco Ban Challenge

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 28 requested that California’s attorney general and the San Diego County district attorney respond to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by tobacco companies and a retailers’ association that are challenging California’s voter-backed ban of flavored tobacco products.
September 29, 2023
Dunkin’ Donuts Files Infringement Action Against E-Cig Company For ‘Vapin’ Logo

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The parent company of the Dunkin’ Donuts chain and an affiliated company are suing an e-cigarette company and its CEO in New York federal court for trademark infringement, alleging that the defendants are illegally using a Dunkin’ Donuts-style logo design to boost sales of their “Vapin’ Donuts” e-cigarette products.
September 27, 2023
Vape Companies Liable For Underage Sales In Chicago, Judge Rules

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge granted in part and denied in part cross-motions for summary judgment filed by the city of Chicago and two Minnesota vape companies and their owner, finding the companies liable for sales of vape products to customers under age 21 in violation of Chicago law but ruling that their owner cannot be held liable individually and that the companies’ use of online age-verification systems does not constitute an unfair business practice.
September 22, 2023
Judge Certifies Classes Of Smokers Deceived By American Spirits ‘Natural’ Claims

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico federal judge published the redacted version of his opinion granting in part a motion to certify a class of smokers accusing three tobacco companies of mislabeling American Spirit-brand cigarettes as “natural” and “additive-free,” shortly after three tobacco companies petitioned the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for permission to challenge the certification order, which was previously issued to the parties under seal.
September 20, 2023
Judge Dismisses Ethanol Seller’s Suit Against Juul For Discriminatory Kit Sales

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge granted a motion filed by Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and one of its wholesalers to dismiss claims brought against them by a company that sells ethanol fuel blends and contends that JLI violated antitrust law by canceling plans to sell JLI e-cigarette products in a kit that included its ethanol fuel.
September 20, 2023
Juul MDL Judge Approves $255M Settlement, Rejects All ClaimClam Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — The California federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) on Sept. 19 issued a final approval of a $255 million class settlement resolving economic loss claims brought against JLI on behalf of roughly 6.3 million class members and approved the rejection of “tens of thousands” of purported class members who filed claims through a third-party website while granting those individuals an extension to file timely claims.
September 19, 2023
Supreme Court Distributes Tobacco Companies’ Challenge To California Flavor Ban

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court distributed for conference a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by tobacco companies and a retailers’ association that are challenging California’s voter-backed ban of flavored tobacco products after California officials waived their right to respond.
September 18, 2023
Government Urges High Court To Uphold ‘Bedrock Principle’ Of Chevron Deference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. secretary of Commerce, two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, the government) urge the U.S. Supreme Court in a Sept. 15 brief to not overrule the doctrine of Chevron deference in a challenge to fishery regulations that were upheld by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, writing that doing so could “cause disruption” to complex federal regulatory schemes.