30 NOVEMBER 28, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Attorney General James sues JUUL Labs
for targeting New York kids to vape
State Attorney General Letitia James announced a far reaching lawsuit against JUUL Labs, the vaping pen and products company, for deceptive
advertising and targeting children. Photo by Todd Maisel
BY TODD MAISEL
TMAISEL@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
New York Attorney General Letitia
James launched a far-reaching
lawsuit last week against JUUL Labs
for deceptive marketing practices
targeting teenagers to buy electronic
cigarettes and vaping products.
“JUUL contributed significantly
to the rising national vaping crisis,”
James said during her Nov. 19
announcement at her Manhattan
office. New York joins California
and North Carolina in suing JUUL,
which controls 60 percent of the vaping
market.
The lawsuit alleges that “JUUL took
a page from Big Tobacco’s playbook,”
as James described it, engaging in
deceptive business practices targeting
young people with various marketing
and advertising tactics such
as advertisements featuring young
models and social media campaigns.
It is also alleged that JUUL illegally
sold products over the internet to
minors.
The case, in the making since 2018,
has taken on more urgency, according
to James, who pointed to the
number of kids were using vaping
products and getting sick with lung
ailments.
“We have a 17-year-old from the
Bronx who is now dead from vaping
– the youngest fatality in the U.S.,”
James said. “JUUL has contributed
greatly to the crisis by glamorizing
vaping with deceptive advertising
and marketing to young people and
now countless New Yorker’s are at
risk.”
As of Nov. 13, New York State
law makes it illegal to sell nicotine
products, including e-cigarettes,
to anyone under 21 years old (the
previous minimum age was 18). This
past September, Governor Andrew
Cuomo announced he was seeking to
outlaw the sale of any flavored vaping
products, except for menthol, to
anyone due to the potential health
hazards associated with vaping.
The City Council is also preparing
a bill that would make it more difficult
for children to get vaping
products and will place restrictions
on sale.
James’ suit seeks a permanent
injunction against JUUL from “engaging
in fraudulent practices.” In
addition, the state wants JUUL to
pay into an abatement program, as
well as civil penalties of $5,000 per
instance of deceptive practices.
The lawsuit also seeks reimbursement
to the state for health costs and
an accounting of their profits to “disgorge
earnings from the deceptive
practices.” She said that should the
company file bankruptcy, they will
“seek remedies in court.”
As for other companies engaged in
selling vaping products, she said that
anyone who tries to fill the vacuum
that may be left from JUUL, will
“face the same remedies.”
“Only 3 1/2 years ago, there was
nothing, and now we have a problem
of monumental scale,” James said.
“Now you can go into schools and
your are hard pressed to find any
kids that haven’t tried it and it is now
interfering with school days.”
She was accompanied by antismoking/
vaping advocates and a
school principal from East Hampton.
Principal Adam Fine said he estimates
that 60 percent of his school,
650 of 900 students, currently using
vaping products.
He said numerous students are
having vaping products seized in
school and “since the first day of
school, my assistant principals are
working every day with vaping
problems and we are finding kids
are addicted to the nicotine and they
are also coming forward.”
Matt Myers, president of the Campaign
for Tobacco Free Kids, said the
vaping epidemic is “a major health
crisis” and he called for stricter laws
and more lawsuits to stop the deceptive
practices of JUUL and others to
sell the products.
“These companies have caused
harm and problems with their
deceptive business practices and it
must be stopped,” Myers said.
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