JUUL Labs E-Cigarette Litigation

In re: JUUL Labs, Inc. Mktg., Sales Practices, & Prods. Liab. Litig.
United States District Court, Northern District of California
MDL No. 2913

Case Overview

Keller Rohrback L.L.P. represents multiple government entities that have spent resources addressing, or whose property has been affected by, the use of JUUL and other vapor products by the youth in Plaintiffs’ respective schools and counties.

Plaintiffs reasonably fear that Defendants’ marketing strategy, advertising, and product design targets minors, especially teenagers, and will increase the likelihood that minors, like those in Plaintiffs’ schools and counties, will begin using e-cigarettes and become addicted to Defendants’ e-cigarette products and this will cause further harm to Plaintiffs.

Plaintiffs allege that Defendants are responsible for the public health crisis of youth vaping and youth nicotine addiction. Defendants have erased years of public health progress—and the investment of public funds—in combating youth cigarette smoking. The harms caused by Defendants include, but are not limited to: (1) increased youth vaping rates; (2) increased youth nicotine addiction rates; and (3) school and county expenditures—both monetary and staff time—in implementing anti-vaping measures, developing and disseminating educational materials, identifying and supporting treatment options for youth nicotine addiction, providing resources and training to the community on issues surrounding youth vaping and youth nicotine addiction; and (4) reduced effectiveness of funding and other investments in initiatives and programs to decrease the rate of youth nicotine use.

The following entities are collectively referred to above as Defendants:

JUUL Defendants: JUUL Labs, Inc. (“JLI”) (formerly known as PAX Labs, Inc.);
Altria Defendants: Altria Group, Inc.; Altria Client Services LLC; Altria Group Distribution Company; Altria Enterprises LLC;
Management Defendants: James Monsees; Adam Bowen; Nicholas Pritzker; Hoyoung Huh; and Riaz Valani; and
RICO Defendants: the Altria Defendants and the Management Defendants.

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What is the Vaping Epidemic?

One of the great public health success stories over the past decade has been a reduction in youth tobacco use and in nicotine addiction. Youth smoking rates plummeted from 28% in 2000 to 7.6% in 2017. This success has been the result of years of litigation and strict regulation. It is also due to a public health message that Big Tobacco can no longer dispute or contradict, and which is simple, stark, and effective: smoking kills.
This success has been largely reversed due to a large increase in youth use of e-cigarettes and vapor products. Between 2017 and 2018, e-cigarette use increased 78% among high school students nationwide, from 11.7% of high school students in 2017 to 20.8% of high schoolers in 2018. Among middle school students, e-cigarette use increased 48% between 2017 and 2018. The increase in youth nicotine vaping from 2017 to 2018 was the largest for any substance tracked by the national Monitoring the Future surveys over the past 44 years.
Vape devices aerosolize a nicotine solution to allow users to inhale larger amounts of nicotine “vapor” without smoking a traditional cigarette. Vapor products are sold in a variety of youth-friendly flavors, such as Mango, Mint, Sour Gummy Worm, and Cotton Candy.
There has recently been an outbreak of illnesses and deaths associated with vaping. As of December 10, 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state agencies had reported over 2,400 cases of hospitalization from lung injury and 52 deaths linked to vaping. More than three fourths of the patients who have become seriously ill are under 35, and more than 345 of the patients have been under 18.
The Surgeon General has characterized e-cigarette use by youth as a public health epidemic.

MDL Orders & Pleadings

Pretrial Order #1 – 10/02/2019

Order Appointing Plaintiffs’ Leadership & Steering Committee Members – 12/20/2019

Order on Substantive Motions to Dismiss – 10/23/2020

County of Santa Cruz Second Amended Complaint – 02/02/2021

Order Denying Second Round of Motions to Dismiss – 04/13/2021

In the News

Evie Blad, ‘Juuling’ and Teenagers: 3 Things Principals and Teachers Need to Know, Educ. Wk. (July 18, 2018).

How Much Nicotine is In Juul?, Truth Initiative (Feb. 26, 2019)

Robert K. Jackler, The Role of the Company in the Juul Teen Epidemic, Testimony of Robert Jackler before the House Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy (July 24, 2019).

Jon Hamilton, How Vaping Nicotine Can Affect A Teenage Brain, NPR (Oct. 10, 2019).

Chris Kirkham, Juul disregarded early evidence it was hooking teens, Reuters (Nov. 5, 2019).

Youth Tobacco Use: Results from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, FDA (Nov. 6, 2019).

JUUL Defendants

Plaintiffs allege that the youth vaping epidemic was created by deliberate practices of JUUL in developing a highly addictive product and intentionally marketing it to youth.
JUUL Defendants transformed the e-cigarette market since it launched in 2015. The JUUL is a type of e-cigarette—an electronic nicotine delivery system that heats liquid containing nicotine, flavoring, and chemicals into an aerosol that is inhaled. Nicotine is addictive and can harm an adolescent’s developing brain. A recent study found that 63% of adolescent JUUL users did not know that JUULpods contain nicotine.
As alleged in Plaintiffs’ complaints, JUUL studied the old marketing campaigns of Big Tobacco, materials that are now available to the public as a result of the Master Settlement Agreement entered into with Big Tobacco for marketing to youth themselves. JUUL also learned how to manipulate nicotine pH to maximize nicotine delivery in a vapor while minimizing the “throat hit” that may potentially deter new smokers.
Plaintiffs allege that JUUL designed its product to appeal to youth, drawing on the experience of its co-founder Adam Bowen to make the product mimic technology that children were already familiar with. Dubbed the “iPhone of e-cigarettes,” JUUL’s device appeals to teenagers because of its sleek and sophisticated appearance and because it is small and easy to conceal.
JUUL also marketed its products in flavors that are particularly appealing for kids and teenagers, and the JUULpods contain 59 mg per ml of nicotine—roughly three times the nicotine limit in Europe—while utilizing acids that reduce the harshness associated with smoking and other e-cigarettes. The end result is a nicotine delivery system that, according to Truth Initiative, doubles the concentration and nearly triples the delivery speed of nicotine compared to the average e-cigarette.
JUUL’s rise in popularity has been meteoric. Over one million JUUL devices were sold between 2015 and 2017. By 2019, JUUL Labs controlled 70% of the market and last year had retail sales of $942.6 million in 2018.
The Surgeon General, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the former Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, and the Secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) all pointed to JUUL Labs as a primary cause of youth e-cigarette epidemic.

Altria Defendants:

Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris USA and the company behind the Marlboro cigarette, initially tried to sell its own vapor products, branded as “MarkTen,” marketing them as containing more nicotine liquid than JUUL’s and in youth-friendly flavors such as Strawberry Brulee, Apple Cider, Piña Colada, Glacier Mint, and Mardi Gras.
When the FDA started asking questions about Altria’s own marketing to youth, Altria pulled its products from the market, claiming to have “serious concerns” about youth access to e-vapor products and admitting that youth use of these products had risen to “epidemic levels.”
Less than two months later, Altria changed its tune. On December 20, 2018, Altria announced that it would be making a $12.8 billion investment in JUUL, the biggest equity investment in United States history. The deal gave Altria a 35% stake in JUUL and gave JUUL access to Altria regulatory, lobbying, logistics, and distribution experience. For example, Joe Murillo, who headed regulatory affairs for Altria, is now JUUL’s chief regulatory officer, and K.C. Crosthwaite, a career Altria executive and former president and CEO of Phillip Morris USA now serves as JUUL’s CEO.

Management Defendants:

JUUL Labs was founded by Adam Bowen and James Monsees. As alleged in Plaintiffs’ complaints, Bowen and Monsees designed the JUUL device to be strongly addictive and attractive to youth, and then marketed the product in a “patently youth oriented way.”
JUUL’s success was propelled by three investors and members of the Board of Directors, Riaz Valani, Nicholas Pritzker, and Hoyoung Huh. Plaintiffs allege that these three individuals played key roles in directing JUUL’s youth marketing, leading to the public health crisis at issue.

RICO Defendants:

Plaintiffs allege that the Management Defendants worked with Altria to grow the market of nicotine addicts, particularly youth, to ensure a new pipeline of customers for Altria and enrich the Management Defendants.

Practice Areas

Case Documents

09/16/2019

Langlois et al.

02/02/2021

Class Action Second Amended Complaint

02/02/2021

County of Santa Cruz Second Amended Complaint

02/02/2021

School Board of Broward County, Florida Second Amended Complaint

03/01/2021

The Board of County Commissioners of the County of Boulder First Amended Complaint