Juul will pay $40M to settle suit over marketing to minors
E-cigarette maker Juul Labs agreed to pay $40 million to North Carolina to settle a lawsuit by the state accusing it of marketing its products to minors.
The settlement, announced on Monday by North Carolina
Attorney General Josh Stein, is the first reached by the company with a state
government. The deal also includes restrictions on sales of products that
appeal to minors and requires Juul to produce yearly reports demonstrating its
compliance.
Stein told a news conference he began investigating Juul
after “hearing from friends about the devastation that this product had visited
on kids’ lives – addiction, depression, bad grades, switching schools, medical
treatment and more.”
Juul, in which Marlboro maker Altria Group took a 35 percent
stake in 2018, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Juul’s e-cigarettes resemble USB flash drives and work by
vaporizing a nicotine-laced liquid. In its 2019 lawsuit, North Carolina said
the company downplayed the potential harm its products can cause, fueling an
“epidemic” of vaping among minors.
Under pressure from regulators, the company — which is led
by CEO K.C. Crosthwaite — had already pulled popular flavors such as mango and
cucumber from retail store shelves and shut down its social media channels on
Instagram and Facebook.
The company still faces more than 2,000 lawsuits over its
e-cigarette marketing. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission in March asked Juul
and other e-cigarette makers to hand over sales and advertising data.
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