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Mealey's Tobacco

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.”
May 03, 2022
Magistrate Denies Summary Judgment In Premium Cigar Maker’s Trademark Claim

MIAMI — A Florida federal magistrate judge on April 29 denied motions for summary judgment brought by each side in a trademark dispute between a premium cigar maker and a manufacturer of discount cigarillos on all but one claim, finding that too many issues of fact are in dispute regarding whether consumers are likely to be confused by the similarity in the parties’ marks.
May 02, 2022
Florida Jury Awards $2.5M In Compensatory Damages To Smoker’s Estate

MIAMI — A Florida jury on April 21 awarded $2.5 million in compensatory damages in an Engle wrongful death action against two tobacco companies brought by the estate of a smoker who died in 1993 from lung cancer, despite one tobacco company’s argument at closings that the smoker was not a Florida resident. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
May 02, 2022
Juul MDL Judge Denies Summary Judgment Ahead Of 1st Bellwether Trial

SAN FRANCISCO — The California federal judge overseeing the Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) multidistrict litigation on April 29 denied motions for summary judgment filed by JLI and Altria Group Inc. against a Tennessee minor whose claims for fraud and negligence are set to go before a jury in June in the MDL’s first bellwether personal injury trial.
April 28, 2022
FDA Issues Proposed Rule Banning Menthol Cigarettes And Flavored Cigars

SILVER SPRINGS, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration on April 28 issued two new proposed rules that would prohibit the manufacture, sales or distribution of menthol-flavored cigarettes and flavored cigars, one year after it announced plans to pursue a ban of these products under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA), 21 U.S.C. § 387j et seq.
April 26, 2022
L.A. Says 9th Circuit’s Affirmance Of Flavored Tobacco Ban Didn’t Create Conflict

SAN FRANCISCO — Los Angeles County and its board of supervisors argue in an April 25 response to three tobacco companies’ petition for rehearing en banc that a split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel correctly upheld the county’s ban on flavored tobacco product sales as not preempted by federal authority in light of the “unique text and history” of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA).
April 26, 2022
Jury Finds Tobacco Company Didn’t Cause 50-Year Smoker’s Death From Lung Cancer

VERO BEACH, Fla. — A Florida jury on April 22 returned a defense verdict in the third trial brought against a tobacco company by the widow of a smoker who died from lung cancer in 1994 after smoking cigarettes for roughly 50 years, with the jury stating on its verdict form that the company didn’t cause the smoker’s addiction or death. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE
April 25, 2022
Philip Morris’ Statements Properly Deemed Inactionable Puffery, Appellees Say

NEW YORK — A federal district court did not err in dismissing shareholder claims brought in a securities class action against tobacco company Philip Morris International Inc. and certain of its senior executives stemming from alleged misrepresentations the defendants made concerning clinical study results for an e-cigarette product Philip Morris manufactured and the product’s financial performance in Japan because the shareholders failed to sufficiently plead any material misstatement or omission in pleading their federal securities law claims, Philip Morris argues in an April 20 appellee brief filed in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
April 22, 2022
Panel Reverses $3.25M Pre-1999 Punitive Damages Award To Dead Smoker’s Family

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — On remand from the Florida Supreme Court in light of new precedent that Engle wrongful death actions arise on the smoker’s death date, a Florida appellate panel on April 20 reversed a $3.25 million judgment entered under Florida’s pre-1999 punitive damages statute to the children of a smoker who died in 2000 and remanded the case to the trial court.
April 21, 2022
Florida Supreme Court Won’t Review $37M Verdict’s Reversal For Improper Closings

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court on April 19 declined to accept jurisdiction over a petition for review of an appellate panel’s reversal of a $37 million judgment in an Engle progeny case against two tobacco companies in which the plaintiffs’ lawyers was found to have made improper and inflammatory closing arguments comparing the companies to Big Brother from George Orwell’s “1984” and Oscar Wilde’s character Dorian Gray.
April 20, 2022
Panel Partly Affirms Vacatur Of $44.4M Verdict, Citing Cigarillo Maker’s Fraud

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 15 reversed in part and affirmed in part a district court’s ruling vacating a jury verdict worth more than $44.4 million, finding that the court erred by granting relief from judgment on a cigarillo maker’s breach of contract and antitrust claims for fraud upon the court but affirmed the court’s order granting relief for new evidence and fraud in general, as the damages awarded were based on fraudulent financial records.
April 19, 2022
Juul Settles Suit With Washington State For $22.5M, Agrees To Reforms

SEATTLE — E-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and the office of Washington attorney general Bob Ferguson on April 12 entered a consent decree in Washington state court under which JLI will pay $22.5 million and implement corporate reforms to resolve claims against the state brought against it for unlicensed sales and deceptive youth marketing.
April 19, 2022
Judge Orders Status Updates From FDA On PMTAs For Top-Selling E-Cigarettes

BALTIMORE — The Maryland federal judge who previously ordered the Food and Drug Administration to advance its premarket tobacco application (PMTA) deadlines for newly deemed tobacco products including e-cigarettes on April 15 ordered the FDA to begin filing status reports on its progress resolving PMTAs for the most popular e-cigarette brands, including Juul Labs Inc.
April 18, 2022
Smoker’s Estate Awarded $1.5M From Tobacco Company For Husband’s Death From COPD

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida jury on April 13 awarded the estate of a smoker who died from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) $1.5 million in compensatory damages in an Engle case but did not find that the smoker relied to his detriment on any tobacco company statements. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
April 18, 2022
FDA Invites New PMTAs For Synthetic Nicotine Products

SILVER SPRING, Md. — New legislation granting the Food and Drug Administration regulatory oversight over synthetic nicotine products took effect April 14, and the FDA announced the day before that manufacturers of synthetic nicotine products will have one month to submit premarket applications (PMTAs) to the agency to continue marketing their products in the United States.
April 15, 2022
Panel Reverses $2.5M Attorney Fee Award In Engle Case To Avoid Double Recovery

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida appellate court panel on April 13 reversed a trial court’s judgment awarding a deceased smoker’s husband $2.5 million in attorney fees in addition to a previously affirmed $2 million verdict and remanded the case for reconsideration of a reasonable fee “that does not include duplicative amounts.”