Mealey's Tobacco

  • March 18, 2024

    E-Cig MDL Judge Issues Order Granting Final Approval Of $45M Altria Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — The California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and tobacco company Altria Group Inc. and its subsidiaries issued written final approval of a $45 million settlement to resolve economic loss claims brought by class members who purchased JLI products in reliance upon misleading information about its addictiveness and health risks.

  • March 15, 2024

    Florida Supreme Court Won’t Reinstate Engle Lawyer Due To Improper Rehabilitation

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court denied a petition for reinstatement to the state bar by an attorney who was suspended in 2022 for filing thousands of Engle progeny lawsuits “without investigating or informing himself as to the facts of each case and for knowingly misrepresenting the viability of the claims.”

  • March 13, 2024

    En Banc 5th Circuit Panel Won’t Amend Ruling Reversing Flavored E-Cig Ban

    NEW ORLEANS — Members of the en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals majority that previously reversed a Food and Drug Administration ban of two vape companies’ flavored e-cigarette products as arbitrary and capricious on March 12 denied the companies’ motion to clarify the opinion’s reference to FDA approval of menthol e-cigarette products, writing that the reference was to a heat-not-burn product.

  • March 11, 2024

    E-Cig MDL Judge: ‘Millions Of Fraudulent Claims’ Filed In $45M Altria Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and tobacco company Altria Group Inc. and its subsidiaries said at a hearing that he would grant final approval to a $45 million settlement with Altria and is “inclined” to approve a 30% attorney fee award, while also advising plaintiffs’ counsel to contact federal prosecutors regarding “millions of fraudulent claims” that were submitted.

  • March 11, 2024

    Mass. High Court Upholds Town’s Ban On Tobacco Sales To People Born After 2000

    BOSTON — The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on March 8 upheld a Brookline, Mass., town bylaw banning sales of tobacco products to people born after 2000, rejecting arguments by local tobacco retailers that the town’s law is arbitrary and preempted by state law.

  • March 11, 2024

    Judge Won’t Overturn Jury’s $2.3M Verdict In Tobacco Rolling Papers Dispute

    ATLANTA — A Georgia federal judge denied two defense motions asking the court to deem excessive or reduce a $2.3 million jury verdict against them for trademark infringement against a rolling papers company and order a new trial, finding that the jury properly weighed the evidence and that its verdict was proper.

  • March 08, 2024

    Smoker’s Estate’s Claims Against Tobacco Company, Retailers Rejected By Jury

    SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico state court jury returned a defense verdict on wrongful death claims brought by the estate of a decades-long Marlboro Red smoker who was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer before catching COVID-19 and dying in 2020, ruling in favor of cigarette manufacturer R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) and two local retailers.

  • March 07, 2024

    Smoker’s Widow Can’t Seek Punitives For ‘Same Course Of Conduct,’ Panel Rules

    MIAMI — A Florida Third District Court of Appeal panel on March 6 affirmed a trial court’s grant of summary judgment on a smoker’s widow’s claim for punitive damages against a tobacco company, ruling in part that under Florida’s punitive damages statute, the widow’s claim for punitive damages failed because it was for the “same course of conduct” for which the company was previously ordered to pay $198 million in other Engle cases.

  • March 07, 2024

    Cigarette Warnings Improperly Imposed On ‘HeatSticks,’ Amici Tell D.C. Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Cigarette manufacturers R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) and ITG Brands LLC filed an amicus curiae brief in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals supporting Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM) in its appeal of a district court ruling that its “HeatSticks” tobacco products are bound by a “corrective statements” remedy imposed on PM and other tobacco companies in 2006 for concealing the health risks of cigarettes.

  • March 07, 2024

    Smoker’s Daughter Properly Allowed To Pursue Punitives, Florida Panel Told

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A dead smoker’s daughter filed an appellee brief urging a Florida appellate panel to affirm a trial judge’s order allowing her to add a claim for punitive damages to her wrongful death complaint against two tobacco companies, while the companies argue that the claim is barred by Florida’s punitive damages statute because they have already been ordered to pay punitive damages for “the same act or single course of conduct.”

  • March 06, 2024

    Judge Dismisses Smoker’s Widow’s Wrongful Death Suit For Failure To Prosecute

    LAS CRUCES, N.M. — A New Mexico federal judge granted several tobacco companies’ motions to dismiss a wrongful death suit brought against them by the widow of a dead smoker after finding that the plaintiff failed to appear for, respond to or prosecute her suit after the companies removed the case to federal court.

  • March 04, 2024

    Consumer Claims Zyn Nicotine Pouches Caused Addiction, Dental Health Issues

    SAN DIEGO — In a putative class action product liability complaint filed in California federal court on March 1, a user of “Zyn” flavored nicotine pouches accuses manufacturer Swedish Match North America LLC and parent company Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) of concealing the health risks posed by their product.

  • March 04, 2024

    Dead Smoker’s Son Deserves New Trial Due To Flawed Jury Selection, Panel Told

    MIAMI — A dead smoker’s son argues in an appellant brief filed in Florida appellate court that it should reverse a defense verdict deeming his claims against a tobacco company for causing his mother’s chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and death time-barred, arguing that the court’s jury selection procedures were improper and that the court wrongly granted summary judgment on his intentional tort claims.

  • February 29, 2024

    Judgment Entered After Jury Rejects Dead Smoker’s Estate’s Defective Design Claims

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida state court judge entered final judgment rejecting wrongful death claims brought against a tobacco company and a retailer that sold its products by the estate of a smoker who died after being diagnosed with laryngeal cancer.  A jury previously rejected the estate’s claims that filtered cigarettes smoked by the decedent were defective.

  • February 28, 2024

    10th Circuit Affirms FDA Ban Of Vape Products, Deepening Circuit Split

    DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 27 affirmed the Food and Drug Administration’s ban of two vape companies’ flavored e-liquid products, siding with several other circuit courts that have found that the FDA properly informed vape companies of its standards for evaluating their products before denying their premarket tobacco application (PMTAs) and ruling that its bans of the petitioners’ products were not arbitrary or capricious.

  • February 28, 2024

    Tribe Asks Court To Enjoin Federal ‘Death Blow’ To Its Cigarette Sales

    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A tribe filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in California federal court seeking to bar the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and other federal law enforcement officials and agencies from deeming it out of compliance with the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, writing that such actions would “strike a death blow” to its business operations as an “on-reservation tribally-owned retailer.”

  • February 26, 2024

    NJOY Dismisses Suit Against Last Remaining Flavored Vape Seller

    LOS ANGELES — E-cigarette maker NJOY LLC, a subsidiary of Altria Group Inc., on Feb. 23 filed a notice of dismissal of its claims against the last remaining flavored disposable vape (FDV) seller accused in its complaint of harming its business by allegedly illegally selling FDVs, a month after a judge dismissed its claims against dozens of other defendants.

  • February 22, 2024

    Tobacco Defendant’s Failure To Produce Asbestos Evidence Not Willful, Justice Says

    NEW YORK — There is no evidence that a tobacco company’s failure to produce reports it no longer has in its possession about testing performed on asbestos-containing Micronite cigarette filters was willful, a New York justice said in denying a motion that sought to compel production or dismiss the company’s answer.

  • February 14, 2024

    Judge Compels Arbitration Of E-Cig Buyers’ Antitrust Claims Against Juul, Altria

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Feb. 13 granted a motion by e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and two of its corporate officers to compel arbitration of antitrust claims brought against them and tobacco company Altria Group Inc. by two direct purchaser plaintiffs (DPPs) and dismissed the DPPs’ claim for injunctive relief against JLI and Altria.

  • February 14, 2024

    Flavored Vape Company Urges High Court To Review Circuit Split Over FDA Bans

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A flavored e-liquid maker filed a petition for a writ of certiorari urging the U.S. Supreme Court to address a circuit split over whether the Food and Drug Administration acted arbitrarily in banning e-cigarette products from the market based on a “previously unannounced requirement” for evaluating manufacturers’ premarket tobacco applications (PMTAs).

  • February 12, 2024

    Time Limits On Widow’s Trial Against Tobacco Company Affirmed By Mass. High Court

    BOSTON — The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that a trial court did not abuse its discretion by imposing a 56-hour time limit on a smoker’s widow’s wrongful death trial against two tobacco companies and a local retailer and did not prevent the plaintiff from fully presenting her case to the jury.

  • February 12, 2024

    New Mexico Jury Rejects Claims Against Tobacco Company For Smoker’s Cancer Death

    LOS LUNA, N.M. — A New Mexico state court jury returned a defense verdict in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of a dead smoker against Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM) and a local retailer, rejecting claims that the defendants were liable for the decedent’s addiction to Marlboro- and Marlboro Light-brand cigarettes and her eventual death from lung cancer.

  • February 09, 2024

    Panel Issues Mixed Ruling In Appeal Of Post-Grant Review Of Vape Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 9 said that although an obviousness challenge by Philip Morris Products S.A. to patented vaping technology was correctly decided in favor of the tobacco giant, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board wrongly found inadequate written descriptive support for two other claims.

  • February 06, 2024

    Split 5th Circuit Denies FDA’s Forum Shopping Argument In Vuse E-Cigs Ban Row

    NEW ORLEANS — A split Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied the Food and Drug Administration’s motion to dismiss or transfer consolidated petitions by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJRV) and several retailers challenging the FDA’s bans of several RJRV flavored Vuse e-cigarette products, rejecting FDA’s arguments that the petitioners lack standing or are engaged in forum shopping.

  • February 01, 2024

    Panel Affirms No Cancer Finding In Engle Case Brought By Smoker’s Widow

    MIAMI — A Third District Florida Court of Appeal panel on Jan. 31 affirmed a trial court’s entry of judgment and denial of a dead smoker’s widow’s motion for a new trial after a jury found that her husband did not have lung cancer, thereby dismissing all of her claims against two tobacco companies.