Mealey's Tobacco
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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.
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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.
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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. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE
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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.
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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.
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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.
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February 01, 2024
Panel Affirms $2.5M Compensatory Damages Award To Smoker’s Estate In Engle Case
MIAMI — A Florida appellate panel on Jan. 31 affirmed a $2.5 million compensatory damages verdict issued against two tobacco companies in favor of the estate of a smoker who died in 1993 from lung cancer, rejecting arguments that an expert witness’s comment that smoking may have caused the smoker’s ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage were improper or inflammatory.
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January 31, 2024
Mandate Issued, Panel Won’t Rehear Reversal Of Smoker’s Widow’s $2M Punitive Award
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Fourth District Florida Court of Appeal on Jan. 30 issued a mandate after denying a motion for rehearing of its ruling reversing a $2 million punitive damages award in favor of a dead smoker’s widow on her Engle claims against a tobacco company.
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January 31, 2024
Bidi Challenges New FDA Ban Of Tobacco-Flavored Disposable E-Cigarettes
ATLANTA — Bidi Vapor LLC filed a petition to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s marketing denial order (MDO) banning sales of its tobacco flavored Bidi sticks products, which it received more than a year after it won a set-aside and remand of the FDA’s ban of its flavored e-cigarette products before the same court.
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January 26, 2024
Tribal Corporation Is Immune In Cigarette Sales Dispute, Calif. Federal Judge Finds
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A tribal corporation is entitled to sovereign immunity from claims brought against it by California for the corporation’s allegedly illegal sales and distribution of cigarettes because the corporation acts on behalf of Alturas Indian Rancheria to the extent that it is an “arm of the tribe,” a California federal judge found in partly granting the corporation’s motion to dismiss.