Mealey's Tobacco
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June 05, 2024
Supreme Court Sets Conference Date For Challenges To FDA Flavored E-Cig Regulations
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 4 scheduled a conference for four pending petitions for writs of certiorari all relating to a circuit split over whether the Food and Drug Administration’s bans of certain flavored e-cigarette products was arbitrary and capricious or if the bans were properly issued under the Tobacco Control Act (TCA).
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June 03, 2024
Panel Agrees Smoker’s Estate Can Seek Attorney Fees Despite Partial Reversal
TAMPA, Fla. — A Second District Florida Court of Appeal panel on June 3 granted a smoker’s estate’s unopposed motion for rehearing and provisionally granted the estate’s motion for appellate attorney fees despite previously partly reversing a verdict in its favor against a tobacco company and reducing a $15.5 million verdict to $3.5 million, finding that the estate is still possibly entitled to fees.
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June 03, 2024
Patent, Trade Dress Row Over Vape Design Will Proceed Without Injunction
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois overseeing a dispute between competing vape makers has rejected as premature a motion to dismiss counterclaims of design patent and trade dress infringement as well as a motion by the counterclaimant for a preliminary injunction.
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May 29, 2024
D.C. Circuit Dismisses Appeal Of Warnings On Philip Morris’ ‘HeatSticks’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 28 entered an order of dismissal after appellant Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM), appellee the United States and health group intervenors filed a joint stipulation agreeing to dismiss PM’s challenge to a ruling that its new “HeatSticks” tobacco products must bear “corrective statements” required on cigarettes.
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May 28, 2024
Judge Partly Dismisses NYC’s Suit Against Flavored Disposable Vape Sellers
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on May 24 granted in part and denied in part three motions to dismiss filed by individuals and entities accused by the city of New York of illegally selling flavored disposable vapes (FDVs) in the city in violation of federal, state and city laws, finding that the city failed to sufficiently plead its racketeering claims but properly alleged that the defendants have caused a public nuisance by contributing to a vaping “public health crisis.”
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May 22, 2024
5th Circuit Won’t Rehear Challenge To Graphic Warnings On Tobacco Products
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 21 denied tobacco companies and retailers’ petition for rehearing of its ruling upholding the Food and Drug Administration’s right to require graphic warnings on tobacco products depicting the lesser-known health risks of tobacco use and reversing a lower court ruling vacating the requirement.
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May 21, 2024
Menthol Vape Makers Ask High Court For More Time To Answer FDA Petition
WASHINGTON, D.C. — R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJRV) and affiliated entities on May 21 asked the U.S. Supreme Court for additional time to respond to the Food and Drug Administration’s petition for a writ of certiorari challenging a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s jurisdiction to review an FDA ban of menthol-flavored e-cigarette products.
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May 21, 2024
FDA Urges High Court To Deny Menthol Vape Company’s Petition Challenging Ban
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court opposing a vape company’s petition for a writ of certiorari, arguing that it need not review a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling upholding FDA’s ban of the company’s products and should instead grant certiorari in a petition it has filed challenging a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling on a similar matter.
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May 20, 2024
Flavored E-Cig Companies Say Supreme Court Need Not Review Reversal Of FDA Ban
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two flavored e-liquid companies filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on May 17 opposing the Food and Drug Administration’s petition for a writ of certiorari challenging the en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal of FDA’s ban of their products as “arbitrary,” writing that the ruling does not require review when other pending e-cigarette petitions for certiorari present better vehicles to review circuit splits on the topic.
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May 16, 2024
Australia Justice: Lung Cancer Is Asbestos Related, But Tobacco User Was Negligent
DARWIN, Australia — After finding that a worker’s continued use of tobacco products beyond 1972 when he must have known of their dangers constituted contributory negligence, an Australian justice said the worker’s fatal lung cancer likely arose from asbestos exposures and entered a total judgment of $329,751.87 plus costs to the worker’s family.
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May 16, 2024
E-Cig MDL Judge Orders Altria To Pay Plaintiffs $13.6M Attorney Fee Award
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 on May 15 approved an attorney fee award of $13.6 million after approving a $45 million settlement of economic loss claims against Altria brought by class members who purchased e-cigarette products in reliance upon misleading information about their addictiveness and health risks.
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May 13, 2024
Judge Orders $1.4M Supersedeas Bond Pending Tobacco Rolling Papers Appeal
ATLANTA — A Georgia federal judge granted a motion filed by rolling papers companies and ordered defendants found liable for trademark infringement to post a supersedeas bond worth more than $1.4 million pending their appeal of jury verdicts against them to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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May 09, 2024
Smokers’ Children Urge Panel To Affirm $8.1M Verdict, Deny Any Jury Errors
MIAMI — The children of a dead smoker argue in a brief to a Florida appellate panel that it should affirm an $8.1 million compensatory damages judgment in their favor against a tobacco company for causing their father’s nicotine addiction, lung cancer and death, writing that a juror’s disclosure of opinions about cigarettes did not require disqualification during voir dire and that the court’s instructions on fraud-related findings from Engle were proper.
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May 09, 2024
Malpractice Settlement Doesn’t Preclude Engle Claims, Smoker’s Widow Says
MIAMI — A smoker’s widow in a May 8 appellant brief to the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal says a trial court wrongly granted summary judgment on her case against a tobacco company for causing her husband’s lung cancer and death based on the court’s conclusion that the husband’s settlement of a medical malpractice suit against his cancer doctor released all claims relating to his cancer against all parties.
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May 08, 2024
Oregon Panel Finds County’s Flavored Tobacco Ban Not Preempted By State Law
SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Court of Appeals reversed a county circuit court judge’s order blocking a county’s ban of the sales of flavored tobacco products as preempted by a state law regulating tobacco sales, finding that the state law does not bar counties from enacting their own regulations on tobacco sales.
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May 02, 2024
Panel Affirms $3M Verdict To Smoker’s Widow, Dismisses Hard Drug Use Argument
MIAMI — A Third District Florida Court of Appeal panel on May 1 affirmed a jury’s $3 million verdict in favor of a smoker’s widow in an Engle case, rejecting arguments by Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM) that the trial court improperly excluded evidence of the smoker’s use of crack and heroin.
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April 29, 2024
Panel Partly Reverses Engle Verdict Citing Lack Of Fraud Evidence
TAMPA, Fla. — A Second District Florida Court of Appeal panel on April 26 reversed a jury’s fraud-based claim against a tobacco company and ordered a new trial on punitive damages after finding that the smoker’s estate failed to prove sufficient “reliance” evidence, thereby reducing a $15.5 million verdict to the widow and children of a smoker who died from lung cancer at age 50 by $12 million.
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April 25, 2024
Amici Urge D.C. Circuit To Affirm Vacatur Of FDA’s Premium Cigar Rules
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three amicus curiae briefs were filed in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals supporting a judge’s vacatur of Food and Drug Administration’s rules for premium cigar regulation as “arbitrary and capricious,” all contending that vacatur was the appropriate remedy for improper federal regulations and should be affirmed.
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April 24, 2024
Juul Gets Partial Win In FOIA Suit Against FDA For E-Cig Ban Docs
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on April 23 granted in part and denied in part opposing motions for summary judgment filed by Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and the Food and Drug Administration in an action brought by JLI to obtain materials documenting the FDA’s decision to deny Juul’s premarket tobacco application (PMTA) and ban its products from the market under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
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April 23, 2024
Ohio Judge Enjoins State Law Preempting Local Tobacco Regulation After Cities Sue
COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio judge issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining a state law that would preempt all local tobacco regulations after 14 cities, including Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland, filed a lawsuit claiming that the rule would improperly nullify local bans on sales of flavored tobacco.
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April 19, 2024
Tobacco Companies Say Claims Of Smoker With Lung Cancer Properly Dismissed
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Two tobacco companies in an April 18 appellee brief in the First District Florida Court of Appeal argue for affirmance of a trial court’s dismissal with prejudice of a second amended complaint filed by a smoker with lung cancer, writing that the smoker failed to allege a product defect or that more health warnings before 1969 would have prevented her from beginning to smoke.
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April 18, 2024
Florida Panel Upholds $1.3M Jury Verdict To Smoker’s Daughter
MIAMI — A Florida Third District Court of Appeals panel on April 17 affirmed a jury’s $1.3 million verdict issued in favor of a dead smoker’s daughter, rejecting arguments by two tobacco companies that the jury was exposed to improper evidence of inflammatory closing arguments.
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April 18, 2024
Menthol Vape Company Tells High Court 3rd Circuit Wrongly Upheld FDA Ban
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A vape company filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court urging it to review a split Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s ruling upholding the Food and Drug Administration ban of its menthol-flavored vape products, arguing that there “is a clear circuit split” on the propriety of FDA standards for banning flavored e-cigarette products.
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April 17, 2024
Florida Jury Awards $34 Million To Estate Of Smoker In Engle Case
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A Florida state court jury issued a punitive damages award to the widow and two children of a dead smoker of nearly $26 million, bringing its total verdict in the smoker’s estate’s favor to more than $34 million after a second trial against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) for causing the smoker’s death in his late 30s from smoking-related cancer that spread to his brain.
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April 16, 2024
Bidi Urges 11th Circuit To Overturn FDA Ban Of Tobacco-Flavored E-Cigs
ATLANTA — Bidi Vapor LLC on April 15 filed a merits brief in support of its 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, arguing that the court should set aside the MDO in part because the FDA did not properly test its products to determine the risk or benefit they pose to public health.