Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Tobacco

  • November 05, 2025

    Full Dismissal Of Tobacco Surcharge Suit Granted In Rhode Island Federal Court

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Following a string of at least seven rulings in which similar putative class challenges to health plan tobacco surcharges survived wholly or in part, a Rhode Island federal judge on Nov. 4 granted full dismissal of a case that is part of a recent wave of Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuits.

  • November 04, 2025

    San Francisco Settles Suit Against Flavored Nicotine Pouch Sellers For Nearly $3M

    SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office and three companies that sold flavored nicotine pouches in violation of the city’s ban on flavored tobacco products settled the city attorney’s lawsuit against them seeking civil penalties for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), with a state court entering judgments under which the defendants will collectively pay $2,985,000.

  • October 31, 2025

    Tobacco Company Wins New Mexico Retrial In Smoker’s Cancer Death Suit

    SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico state court jury returned a defense verdict in favor of a tobacco company and local retailer, rejecting all claims brought against them by a dead smoker’s daughter for causing her father’s death from laryngeal cancer through the marketing, manufacture and sale of defectively designed cigarettes.

  • October 31, 2025

    Health Advocates Dismiss Suit Demanding FDA Implement Menthol Cigarette Ban

    OAKLAND, Calif. — Public health groups and doctors filed notice in California federal court of voluntary dismissal of their lawsuit seeking to compel the Food and Drug Administration and affiliated agencies to enact a federal ban of menthol cigarettes.

  • October 30, 2025

    ‘Fume’ Vape Makers Accused Of Marketing To Minors, Concealing Addiction Risks

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Two e-cigarette users on Oct. 29 filed an amended putative class complaint in Florida federal court against two companies that manufacture and market flavored disposable Fume-brand e-cigarettes, alleging that they misleadingly market their products, deliberately target minors and sell their products without authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in violation of  New York, New Jersey and Florida state laws.

  • October 28, 2025

    E-Cig Companies Defend ‘Carbon-Neutral’ Claims Against ‘Greenwashing’ Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJRV) and its affiliates moved in California federal court to dismiss a putative class complaint brought against them by e-cigarette consumers for allegedly violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by representing their e-cigarette products to consumers as “carbon-neutral,” writing that such claims were permissible, independently certified and would not deceive reasonable consumers.

  • October 28, 2025

    $4.7M Class Deal Reported In Tobacco Surcharge Case That Survived Dismissal

    RICHMOND, Va. — A putative class action that is part of a recent wave of similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act suits over health plan tobacco surcharges would be resolved under a $4.7 million settlement agreement that the plaintiffs told a Virginia federal court the parties have signed.

  • October 27, 2025

    Small Vape Companies Say Virginia Registry Forcing Them Out Of Market

    RICHMOND, Va. — Two small companies that manufacture vapes filed a complaint in Virginia federal court against the state’s attorney general and tax commissioner, alleging that a new state law implementing a registry of approved e-cigarette products “statutorily enshrined” a “monopoly” that will benefit large manufacturers of e-cigarettes and “eliminate” the plaintiffs and other small vape companies from the market.

  • October 27, 2025

    Minnesota Panel Affirms Jurisdiction Over Battery Maker For Vape Explosion

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota Court of Appeals panel affirmed a trial court’s finding of jurisdiction over a South Korean battery maker in a personal injury lawsuit brought against it by a man who says he was burned when one of its lithium-ion batteries acquired for use with an e-cigarette device exploded in his pocket, rebuffing the battery defendants’ argument that they did not intend their batteries to be used with vapes.

  • October 22, 2025

    Amici Say Punitive Damages Reform Needed In Appeal Of $1B Tobacco Verdict

    BOSTON — Several parties filed amicus curiae briefs to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in a tobacco company’s appeal regarding a state court jury’s award of $1 billion in punitive damages to the family of a smoker who died from lung cancer in 2017, later reduced to $56 million by remittitur, with some recommending reforms such as bifurcated trials to reduce the risk of “excessive” verdicts.

  • October 20, 2025

    Split Ohio Panel Affirms Dismissal Of State Suit Over Banned Vape Sales

    CANTON, Ohio — A split Ohio appellate panel affirmed the dismissal on federal preemption grounds of a state enforcement action filed against an e-cigarette retailer accused of violating state consumer protection laws by selling e-cigarette products that are not authorized for sale in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration, while a dissenting judge said the claims relate to sales practices that Congress did not intend to “insulate” from state authority.

  • October 13, 2025

    Dead Smoker’s Estate Wins $12M After Massachusetts Jury Trial

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A jury in Massachusetts state court awarded $1 million in compensatory damages and $11 million in punitive damages, split between two tobacco companies, after rejecting the widow’s defective design claims but finding in favor of the widow on fraud-based claims relating to the tobacco companies’ material misrepresentations that her late husband relied upon before switching to filtered cigarettes, later being diagnosed with lung cancer and dying at age 55.

  • October 13, 2025

    United States Wins $38M Foreign Tax Dispute With Altria

    RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia federal judge granted the United States’ motion for judgment on the pleadings and dismissed with prejudice tobacco company Altria Group Inc.’s claim that it was improperly taxed roughly $38 million by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service for profits from a foreign entity it indirectly invested in under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) and denied other pending motions as moot, finding that the tax at issue was not arbitrary.

  • October 13, 2025

    Hawaii Jury Awards $350K To Estate Of Dead Smoker

    KONA, Hawaii — A jury in Hawaii state court on Oct. 10 awarded $350,000 in compensatory damages to the estate of a smoker who died at 68 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) after smoking for nearly 50 years, split fault between the smoker and tobacco company R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) and rejected claims that retailers were in the “chain of distribution.” VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • October 13, 2025

    Los Angeles’ Biggest Vape Seller Will Pay $350K To Settle Suit For Selling Flavors

    LOS ANGELES — A California state judge entered a consent judgment resolving an action brought by the Los Angeles city attorney against a business owner and his two tobacco retail businesses, collectively described as “the largest exclusive tobacco retailer” in Los Angeles, with the defendants agreeing to pay $350,000 to resolve claims they violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by selling flavored e-cigarette products in violation of a statewide ban on flavored tobacco.

  • October 10, 2025

    Chinese, Hong Kong Companies Agree To Cease Disposable Vape Sales In California

    SAN DIEGO — E-cigarette maker NJOY LLC, an Altria Group Inc. subsidiary, and two manufacturers of flavored disposable vapes (FDVs) on Oct. 9 filed a joint motion in California federal court for consent judgment and permanent injunctive relief under which the Chinese and Hong Kong-based defendants agree to permanent injunctive relief ceasing sales of FDVs to California in return for NJOY dropping claims against them for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and federal cigarette regulations.

  • October 09, 2025

    Vape Makers, Retailers Bring New Challenges To FDA E-Cigarette Bans

    NEW ORLEANS — E-cigarette manufacturers and retailers in five consolidated cases filed a petitioners’ opening brief in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s bans of their e-cigarettes and e-liquid products, arguing for vacatur of the bans based on incorrect ingredient lists and the FDA’s ban of “zero-nicotine” products that were intended to help smokers quit.

  • October 08, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Suit By ‘Public Face’ Of Vape Brand Who Claimed Wrongful Removal

    LAS VEGAS — A Nevada federal judge dismissed for lack of jurisdiction a complaint by the former CEO of a brand used to sell disposable vapes and other products in which he accused two former colleagues and his former companies of violating his right of publicity and deceptive trade practices after finding that the plaintiff failed to plead that personal jurisdiction exists over the defendants in Nevada based on their operation of websites and social media accessible from that state.

  • October 07, 2025

    Cigar Companies Sue California Over Unflavored Tobacco Registration Law

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — Premium cigar manufacturers, importers and trade associations filed a complaint in California federal court against the state’s attorney general seeking to enjoin a new state law that they say will “push the premium cigar industry off a cliff” by requiring companies to file complex applications to prove their products are unflavored, allegedly in violation of the U.S. Constitution, principles of federal preemption and state administrative law.

  • October 07, 2025

    High Court Won’t Review $95M Verdict In E-Cigarette Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by e-cigarette company R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJR), which sought review of a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s ruling upholding a more than $95 million jury verdict against RJR for infringing three Altria Client Services LLC patents for pod-based e-cigarettes.

  • October 06, 2025

    Key ERISA Claims Survive Dismissal In Yet Another Tobacco Surcharge Challenge

    MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The tally of challenges to health plan tobacco surcharges that have at least partly survived dismissal continues to grow, with a Tennessee federal judge letting key claims continue in a putative class action that is part of a recent wave of similar lawsuits.

  • October 03, 2025

    Hawaii Smoker May Seek Punitive Damages For Personal Harm Only, Judge Says

    LIHUE, Hawaii — A Hawaii state judge granted in part and denied in part two tobacco companies’ motion to dismiss a personal injury lawsuit filed against them by a smoker with bladder cancer and his wife, dismissing the smoker’s claim for fraud and partly dismissing his claim for punitive damages, writing that the smoker may seek punitives for “harm to himself,” but not harm to “society.”

  • October 01, 2025

    DOJ Sues Vape Distributors For Selling Unauthorized Products

    After the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies announced the seizure of $86.5 million worth of unauthorized vape products, the Department of Justice filed 12 complaints in federal courts across the country seeking permanent injunctive relief against businesses and associated individuals who are alleged to have marketed misbranded electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) including e-cigarettes and flavored e-liquids from Hong Kong and China despite previous warnings.

  • September 30, 2025

    Judge Remands Suit Against Nicotine Pouch Sellers, Denies Attorney Fees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge granted a nonprofit health group’s motion to remand its lawsuit accusing two companies that sell Zyn nicotine pouches of false marketing to the District of Columbia Superior Court after finding that federal jurisdiction does not exist over the case and denied the nonprofit’s motion for attorney fees.

  • September 25, 2025

    Oral Arguments Held In Appeal Of $475K Punitive Award For Smoker’s Estate

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Attorneys representing a tobacco company urged the Fourth District Florida Court of Appeal during oral arguments on Sept. 24 to reverse or order remittitur of a $475,000 punitive damages verdict awarded in favor of the estate of a dead smoker, arguing that the award is excessive because it is 11 times greater than the compensatory damages the estate was awarded.