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Mealey's Tobacco

  • August 13, 2025

    $299,000 Class Deal Wins Final OK In ERISA Row Over Plan’s Tobacco Surcharge

    CHICAGO — Resolving an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over annual $1,152 surcharges imposed on about 431 health plan participants who use tobacco, an Illinois federal judge on Aug. 12 gave final approval to a $299,000 class settlement and made awards in the amounts requested, including $99,666.67 for attorney fees and a $5,000 case contribution award.

  • August 13, 2025

    E-Cig Maker To High Court: Federal Circuit Gets Patent Damages Wrong

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Electronic cigarette maker R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJR) tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmation of a jury’s award of more than $95 million in damages for infringing on another company’s tobacco pod technology conflicts with Supreme Court precedent on the apportionment of damages in patent infringement cases.

  • August 05, 2025

    2 Smokers With Cancer Sue Tobacco Companies, Retailers In Hawaii State Court

    HONOLULU — A smoker with lung cancer and a smoker with bladder cancer filed separate personal injury complaints in Hawaii state courts against tobacco companies and retailers, both seeking compensatory and punitive damages against the defendants for concealing the risks of smoking and getting them addicted in the 1960s and 1970s.

  • August 05, 2025

    9th Circuit Uses Effective Vindication Doctrine In ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Case

    PASADENA, Calif. — Calling the holding in the tobacco surcharge case “consistent with” decisions that five sister circuits issued in a variety of Employee Retirement Income Security Act disputes in the past few years, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 4 ruled in part that a health plan arbitration provision’s “representative action waiver violates the effective vindication doctrine and is unenforceable.”

  • August 04, 2025

    Judge Says Federal Fine For Unauthorized Vape Violates 7th Amendment

    FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas federal judge on Aug. 1 granted summary judgment in favor of a vape company and ruled that a more than $20,000 civil penalty levied against it through an administrative proceeding initiated by the Food and Drug Administration is unconstitutional and violates the company’s right to a jury trial, citing SEC v. Jarkesy.

  • August 01, 2025

    Tobacco Settlement Doesn’t Bar Smoker’s Punitive Damages Claim, Hawaii Judge Says

    WAILUKU, Hawaii — A Hawaii state court judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit filed by an elderly smoker with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who brought a products liability and fraudulent misrepresentation lawsuit against tobacco companies and a local retailer, writing that Hawaii’s entry into the 1998 master settlement agreement (MSA) with tobacco companies does not preclude individual smokers from seeking punitive damages.

  • July 31, 2025

    Split Panel Reverses $8.1M Verdict For Smoker’s Kids Over Jury Instruction Error

    MIAMI — A split Florida Third District Court of Appeal panel on July 30 reversed a trial court’s final judgment worth $8.1 million in compensatory damages in favor of the children of a dead smoker, finding that the court’s instructions on fraud-related findings from the Engle trial were improper and remanded for a new trial.

  • July 30, 2025

    Part Of ERISA Putative Class Action Over Tobacco Surcharge Survives Dismissal

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — As the number of recent cases challenging health plans’ so-called tobacco surcharges continues to grow, a Minnesota federal judge on July 29 ruled that one of three claims in a putative class action over such surcharges survives dismissal “to the extent that it is premised on the failure to notify Plan participants that recommendations of an individual’s personal physician will be accommodated.”

  • July 30, 2025

    Tobacco Companies Say Philip Morris Can’t Arbitrate $277M State Settlement

    SEATTLE — Several tobacco companies that jointly resolved a dispute with the state of Washington over their mandatory payments to the state under the 1998 master settlement agreement (MSA) filed briefs in Washington state court opposing a bid by Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM) to compel arbitration of claims they brought against it for alleged underpayments, arguing that it is prohibited from compelling arbitration of a settlement to which it is not a party.

  • July 30, 2025

    Iowa Says Court Wrongly Enjoined New E-Cigarette Registry Law As Preempted

    ST. LOUIS — An Iowa state official filed an appellant brief in the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that a federal court erred by enjoining the state’s new law regulating sales of e-cigarettes as preempted by federal tobacco regulations pursuant to a challenge brought by a vaping advocacy association and five vape companies, writing that Eighth Circuit precedent allows state regulation of tobacco sales.

  • July 30, 2025

    E-Liquid Maker Says 9th Circuit Should Reverse FDA’s Ban Of Products

    SAN FRANCISCO — An e-liquid manufacturer filed a brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s ban of its product in a case that has been stayed for more than three years, arguing in part that the court should reconsider the FDA’s “appropriate for public health” standard now that the administrative law precedent of Chevron deference has been overruled.

  • July 29, 2025

    Hearing Set To Confirm Satisfaction Of $9.3M Judgment For Smoker’s Death

    A Florida state court judge on July 28 set a hearing on an unopposed motion by tobacco company R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) to confirm the satisfaction of a more than $9.3 million judgment awarded against it by a second jury for causing the death of a smoker from coronary artery disease (CAD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), while on the same day a pending appeal of the judgment was stayed.

  • July 25, 2025

    Florida Panel Revives Smoker With Lung Cancer’s Nicotine Defect Lawsuit

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The First District Florida Court of Appeal reversed a trial court’s dismissal with prejudice of a second amended complaint against two tobacco companies filed by a smoker with lung cancer, writing that the smoker deserves a chance to plead additional facts in support of her strict liability claim.

  • July 21, 2025

    Vape Retailers Voluntarily Dismiss Challenge To Alabama Registry Law

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A retail trade association and a convenience store owner on July 18 filed a notice in Alabama federal court voluntarily dismissing their challenge to the state’s new law enacting requirements for tobacco products that restrict the sales of certain e-cigarette products, after previously stipulating to withdraw their motion to temporarily restrain and preliminarily enjoin the new law from taking effect.

  • July 18, 2025

    FDA Approves Juul E-Cigarettes For Marketing In United States

    SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration on July 17 announced that five tobacco- and menthol-flavored e-cigarette products manufactured by Juul Labs Inc. have been authorized to be marketed and sold in the United States, three years after the company’s premarket tobacco application (PMTA) was denied by the FDA.

  • July 16, 2025

    Judge Won’t Dismiss NYC’s Nuisance Suit Against Flavored Vape Wholesalers

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge denied three motions to dismiss filed by sellers of flavored disposable vapes who are accused by the city of New York of violating federal, state and city laws and creating a public nuisance by selling flavored, disposable e-cigarettes throughout the city, but also said the city cannot sue for civil penalties under its administrative code causes of action.

  • July 15, 2025

    Wisconsin’s New E-Cig Registry Law Challenged By Vape Group, Retailers

    MADISON, Wis. — A vaping advocacy group, e-cigarette retailers and two e-cigarette users moved in Wisconsin federal court for a preliminary injunction enjoining a new law from taking effect in Wisconsin that would ban the sale of certain synthetic nicotine e-cigarette products.

  • July 14, 2025

    7th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Suit Against Battery Maker For E-Cig Explosion

    CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of personal injury claims brought by a minor against a Korean battery maker for injuries suffered when lithium-ion batteries intended for use with an e-cigarette device exploded in his pocket, finding that the Korean company did not purposefully avail itself of the Indiana market for batteries while noting that other courts around the country addressing exploding vape cases have split on the issue.

  • July 14, 2025

    FDA Plans Voluntary Review Of E-Liquid Products After High Court Victory

    NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on July 13 sent a letter to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals stating that it intends to narrow the issues requiring review and voluntarily review the marketing plans of two e-liquid companies, as that was one of the issues remanded to the Fifth Circuit by the U.S. Supreme Court after it found that FDA did not improperly change its standards for e-cigarette product reviews.

  • July 03, 2025

    Tobacco Company Says State Settlement Dispute Must Be Arbitrated

    SEATTLE — Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM) filed a motion in Washington state court seeking to compel arbitration and dismiss a complaint filed by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) and affiliated tobacco companies regarding PM’s alleged underpayments under the master settlement agreement (MSA) entered into with the state in 1998.

  • July 03, 2025

    Government Tells 5th Circuit FDA Rules Are Not A Burden On Small Companies

    NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other government parties on July 2 filed an appellee brief in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rebuffing arguments by small e-liquid makers and a vaping industry association that federal regulation of vaping is so “burdensome” it effectively bars small companies from entering the market, writing that its vaping requirements comply with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA).

  • July 02, 2025

    Some Forfeiture, Tobacco Surcharge Claims Survive Dismissal In ERISA Suit

    URBANA, Ill. — Ruling on a dismissal motion in a putative class action involving two recent hot topics in Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation, an Illinois federal judge concluded that key claims regarding the use of forfeited nonvested retirement plan contributions survive but only one claim regarding a health plan’s so-called tobacco surcharge does.

  • June 30, 2025

    North Carolina Federal Judge Won’t Enjoin State’s New Vape Regulations

    RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge on June 27 denied motions for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order (TRO) filed by an e-cigarette industry association, vape businesses and a consumer who challenged a new North Carolina law that will prohibit sales of certain e-cigarette products.

  • June 27, 2025

    Nondelegation Doctrine Not Violated By FCC Funding Scheme, Supreme Court Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 27 ruled 6-3 that a Federal Communications Commission subsidy program does not violate the doctrines of nondelegation or  “private nondelegation,” finding that the FCC’s delegations were properly guided by an “intelligible principle” set forth by Congress and reversing the en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • June 27, 2025

    Widow Defends $34M Verdict For 38-Year-Old Smoker’s Death As ‘Not About Race’

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The widow of a dead 38-year-old smoker urges a Florida appellate court in her answer brief to affirm the verdict and disregard a tobacco company’s arguments that the jury was inflamed by improper argument about “racial targeting,” writing that her case properly emphasized “fraudulent conduct” not “racism.”