Lawsuits Filed For Injuries from Vaping

Lawsuits filed in federal court are likely to be consolidated in so-called multi district litigation before a federal judge. Juul has moved to consolidate the lawsuits in the Northern District of California, which included San Francisco. A federal judicial panel in Los Angeles is scheduled to hear the arguments on that motion Thursday. Separately , a motion has been filed in a Los Angeles state court to consolidate the California state court cases there.

The first e-cigarette appeared in the U.S. in 2007 and has become a very popular trend among people. Since then vaporizers have gone through many modifications. We should mention the two brothers form the U.K., Umber and Tariq Sheikh. They made e-cigarettes more customer friendly. They invented the cartomizer. The component parts are the battery that gives the name to all vaporizers we read about today.

Speak to a Lawyer today

Fill out the contact form below and a lawyer will contact you to discuss your case.

The atomizer is attached to the battery. This vaporizes the liquid that is in the vape by heating it up. The cartomizer connects directly to the battery and heats the e-juice. The cartomizer give a chance to control what is vaped. Cartridges and tanks contain and hold the nicotine liquid. Finally, the mouthpiece inhaler is the end and used to inhale. Presently, although legal, vaporizers are being legally challenged. Why?

Several deaths and potentially hundreds of illnesses tied to e-cigarettes (devices which allow the users to inhale nicotine vapor without smoking) have been reported by U.S. health agencies. Lawsuits on behalf of young consumers have been filed against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. and others are expected amid increasing scrutiny.

Young adult Juul users and parents of teenage users have filed dozens of lawsuits over vaping-related injuries in courts around the country, including both individual lawsuits and class actions. The lawsuits target Juul, which markets a nicotine-vaping device and controls 75% of the e-cigarette market. Some have also named Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc., which has a minority stake in Juul, as a Defendant.

Most of the Plaintiffs allege that users became addicted to Juul, but at least two lawsuits go further. A Connecticut man alleges in a lawsuit filed in California State court that he suffered a massive stroke as a result of Juul use, while the parents of a teenage girl allege in a proposed class action in Florida federal court that their daughter has suffered seizures linked to the device.

One set of legal claims in the cases focuses on fraudulent marketing. In these claims, Plaintiffs accuse Juul of claiming its e-cigarettes are meant to help adults stop smoking cigarettes, while at the same time marketing them to minors and young adults who have never used nicotine. They also say Juul has claimed its products are a safe alternative to cigarettes when they actually can deliver higher doses of nicotine.

Another set of claims focuses on product liability, alleging that Juul’s products are defectively designed because they are inherently dangerous and that Juul failed to warn about the dangers of both.

More lawsuits are expected. Joseph VanZant, a lawyer with the firm of Beasley Allen, said his firm has been hired by more than 200 clients for vaping-related claims, of whom at least eight have already filed lawsuits. “We fully expect hundreds if not thousands of individual cases filed,” he told Rueters earlier this month.

Lawsuits filed in federal court are likely to be consolidated in so-called multi district litigation before a federal judge. Juul has moved to consolidate the lawsuits in the Northern District of California, which included San Francisco. A federal judicial panel in Los Angeles is scheduled to hear the arguments on that motion soon. Separately , a motion has been filed in a Los Angeles state court to consolidate the California state court cases there.

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein in May sued Juul and has asked a state court to limit the flavors of Juul e-cigarettes sold in North Carolina.

Other state attorneys general, along with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, are investigating Juul’s marketing practices.