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Mealey's Tobacco

  • July 25, 2024

    Magistrate Judge Denies Bid To Stay Discovery In UCL Suit Against Vape Sellers

    SAN DIEGO — A California federal magistrate judge on July 24 denied a group of online e-cigarette retailers’ ex parte motion to stay discovery in a lawsuit brought against them along with several Chinese e-cigarette manufacturers by e-cigarette maker NJOY LLC, an Altria Group Inc. subsidiary, for allegedly violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and federal cigarette regulations by illegally selling “Elf Bar”-brand flavored disposable vapes (FDVs).

  • July 23, 2024

    FDA Asks Court To Drop Required Status Reports On E-Cigarette Approvals

    BALTIMORE — The Food and Drug Administration on July 22 filed a motion in Maryland federal court asking for relief from a two-year-old order requiring it to provide the court regular status reports on its progress reviewing premarket tobacco applications (PMTA) for top-selling e-cigarette brands, writing that the “obligation has now outlived its original purpose” and that it should not be required to file reports about progress on the final pending PMTA.

  • July 10, 2024

    Flavored Vape Wholesalers Remove New York’s Suit After Injunction Sought

    NEW YORK — Two sellers of flavored disposable vapes removed state court claims brought against them by the city of New York to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, one week after the city moved for a preliminary injunction barring them and several other wholesalers of from continuing to sell vapes in violation of state and federal law.

  • July 10, 2024

    Tobacco Company Not Liable For Smoker’s Laryngeal Cancer Death, Jury Says

    MIAMI — A Miami-Dade County, Fla., 11th Judicial Circuit Court jury issued a verdict awarding no damages and finding a tobacco company not liable for claims that it defectively designed Virginia Slims cigarettes and caused a smoker’s death from laryngeal cancer. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • July 10, 2024

    Health Groups Seek Hearing On ‘Political’ Delay Of Menthol Cigarette Ban

    SAN FRANCISCO — Three health advocacy organizations filed supplementary materials in support of their motion for administrative relief seeking a hearing on the speed with which a California federal court hears their lawsuit accusing the Food and Drug Administration, affiliated agencies and their leaders of unlawfully delaying a federal ban of menthol cigarettes.

  • July 09, 2024

    First Nations’ Cigarette Maker Asks To Stay Challenge To Oregon ‘Equity’ Law

    EUGENE, Ore. — A Canadian First Nations-owned cigarette manufacturer and Oregon on July 8 filed a joint motion in Oregon federal court to stay the manufacturer’s lawsuit over the state’s new payment requirement based on cigarette sales pending the outcome of an appeal of a parallel state court ruling that the requirement violates the state Constitution.

  • July 09, 2024

    Smoker’s Daughter Opposes Tobacco Companies’ ‘Survivor’ Challenge To $2.1M Verdict

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A smoker’s daughter in a July 8 brief urges a Florida appellate court to reject arguments by two tobacco companies that she is not the smoker’s “survivor” under the Wrongful Death Act and therefore is entitled to only $7,000 of a $2.1 million compensatory damages verdict, arguing that the tobacco companies’ seek to “rewrite” the statute.

  • July 09, 2024

    Smoker’s Estate Opposes Florida High Court Review Of Engle Residency Requirements

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A smoker’s estate argues in an answer brief that the Florida Supreme Court should not review an appellate panel’s opinion affirming a $2.5 million verdict against two tobacco companies for the smoker’s death from lung cancer, writing that the panel’s holding that she was an Engle member despite also residing in New York does not conflict with any other case.

  • July 08, 2024

    Menthol Vape Makers Urge High Court To Deny FDA’s Challenge To Forum

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJRV) and affiliated entities filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court opposing the Food and Drug Administration’s petition for a writ of certiorari challenging a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s finding of jurisdiction over RJRV and retailers’ challenge to an FDA ban of menthol-flavored e-cigarette products.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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).

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.