A multi-million-dollar settlement by Juul Labs has been given preliminary court approval to resolve consumer claims that it had deceptively marketed e-cigarettes – and that they overpaid for the company’s vaping products.
The $255m proposed class action settlement, said the judge in San Francisco, was “fair, reasonable and adequate”.
The settlement is part of a larger, global agreement by Juul to resolve thousands of lawsuits by school districts, local governments and individuals accusing it of contributing to a youth vaping epidemic.
Reuters reports that last month, the company said it had reached settlements with about 10 000 plaintiffs covering more than 5 000 cases. It has not said how much it will pay, though estimates are that the deal is valued at about $1.7bn.
The class action settlement resolves claims by people who say they would have paid less, or not bought the e-cigarettes at all, if Juul had not downplayed the products’ addictiveness and appealed to teenagers through social media campaigns and other means.
Partly owned by Marlboro maker Altria Group, Juul, in September, agreed to pay $438.5m to settle claims from 34 US states and territories that said the company targeted underage buyers and downplayed its products’ risks.
Last June, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) briefly banned Juul’s e-cigarettes, though it later put the order on hold after an appeal.
Reuters article – US judge grants preliminary approval to Juul consumer settlement (Open access)
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