Juul and Vaping Class Actions

Juul and Vaping Class Actions

Smoking has experienced quite a journey since it’s immortalization and idolization on the silver screen. Over the years, smoking has fallen to the wayside, with a negative social stigma and an evolving concern about health risks taking center stage.

No longer the ‘cool’ thing to do, smoking among the adult population has decreased 68% since it’s peak, according to the American Lung Association, leaving the door wide open for the ‘new kid on the block’, vaping.

Today, American adults (and unfortunately teens as well) have made the shift to vaping, trading in packs of cigarettes for vape pens and JUUL pods. Clouds of tobacco smoke have now been replaced with plumes of fruity scented vapor clouds. But at what cost?

With the devastating repercussions of vaping and JUUL pod use coming to light, an onslaught of JUUL and vaping class actions have been filed around the country, seeking compensation for damages into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

These claims can’t ‘buy back’ one’s health or bring a loved one back to life, but they can set the tone and precedent that holds JUUL and vaping companies accountable for their actions, while providing much needed financial relief to those who have had their lives torn apart by this growing epidemic.

The Health Effects of Vaping: setting the stage for class action lawsuits

Although once thought to be a ‘healthier’ alternative to smoking, vaping has proven to be anything but good for you.

A Quick Look at the Stats According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC):

  • As of 02/2020, there have been over 2,800 serious lung injuries and hospitalizations associated with vaping products.
  • As of 02/2020, there have been 68 vaping related deaths on record
  • Between 2013-2017 alone, almost 5000 children under the age of five received emergency room treatment for exposure to e-liquid nicotine (Truth Initiative, 2019)
  • A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2019), demonstrated that exposure of e-cigarette smoke for a period of 54 weeks resulted in 22.5% of the mice developing lung adenocarcinomas and 57.5% developing bladder urothelial hyperplasia.

Despite it’s relatively new emergence on scene, several studies have already linked vaping and JUULs to hypertension, severe lung injury, heart disease, gum inflammation, brain development effects and more.

A Widespread Epidemic Driving an Onslaught of Class Action Lawsuits

Despite the mounting evidence of health concerns surrounding e-cigarettes, vaping and the use of JUUL pods has remained both rampant and steady, resulting in thousands of serious injuries.

Just how rampant is the problem?

Recent Research Reveals That:

  • 9% of all US adults either occasionally or regularly vape (Gallup, 2018)
  • 27.5% of all US high school students report vaping (The Truth Initiative, 2019)
  • Over 5 million middle and high school age students admitted to using JUUL pods or similar vaping devices in the last 30 day period preceding the survey (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
  • Over 1 million teens use vaping products daily, with 1.6 million using them more frequently than 20 times per month (FDA, 2019)

Juul and Vaping Class Actions: On the rise

As the number of serious injuries begins to pile up, so do the class action lawsuits filed against various vaping manufacturers such as JUUL and others.

Lawsuits filed claim that clients were harmed by JUUL pods or other vaping devices, resulting in serious lung injuries, strokes, and seizures.

Several of these class action lawsuits specifically name Juul Labs Inc., maker of JUUL Pods and holding a market share of around 75% in the e-cigarette industry across the United States.

Adding insult to injury, many individuals named in the lawsuit claim that their problems and damages were exacerbated by the addictive nature of e-cigarettes, contributing to a worsening of their condition.

Some individuals allege that they were misled or unaware that vape fluids even contained high-levels of nicotine in the first place.

The Status of Juul Lawsuits in the USA

As of summer 2020, 758 Juul lawsuits were on public record as being combined in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) around the USA.

Out of the 758 cases on file, JULL and others face both individual as well as class action lawsuits across four states and growing. With the majority of cases filed prior to the vitamin E vaping scandal and subsequent catastrophic injuries and deaths, most cases have not yet seen their first date in court.

The Claims Made Against Juul

Several of the individual lawsuits filed allege Juul’s marketing intentionally targets minors, a claim which the defendant vigorously denies.
The plaintiffs allege that the company was aware that its e-cigs were not safe for non-smokers and that they posed a significant risk of aggravating nicotine addiction for those who already smoked.

Other allegations contend that JUUL had knowledge that its nicotine delivery system resulted in distributing more nicotine into a consumer’s bloodstream than that of a traditional combustible cigarette and that it does so more expeditiously.

Summary of Claims Made Against Juul:

  • The company marketed its products in a way so as to attract minors
  • Juul promoted nicotine use
  • It’s marketing did not warn consumers that it’s nicotine products were both more addictive and more potent than tobacco cigarettes
  • Juul’s products are both unreasonably dangerous and defective

Plaintiffs also argue that despite Juul’s knowledge of the potential for harm, that the company continued to release deceitful, misleading and false information in its advertisements, on its site, through social media and in interviews.

Impacted Individuals and Families May Have a Right to a Claim

Have you, your child or a loved one used JUUL e-cigarettes? If so, you may be entitled to a claim for compensation regarding the above and other allegations.

Call or message our team today for a free initial consultation. There’s no cost, and if we take your case, we work on contingency, meaning we only get paid if we win.