An Arizona public school district is suing the nation’s largest e-cigarette manufacturer over its vape marketing strategy, something the school district alleges was, and is, aimed at getting young people addicted to vaping.

In a 63-page civil complaint filed Aug. 21 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Tempe Union High School District No. 213 alleges Juul Labs has generated a public nuisance and committed racketeering and gross negligence, among other wrongdoing. Targeting young customers in its vape marketing has led to nothing short of an epidemic that’s costing the school district money and resources to deal with the problem, the district’s lawsuit says.

Juul is headquartered in California. Tempe Union is a school district in Tempe, Ariz., just outside Phoenix, serving 14,000 students in eight high schools, grades nine through 12.

Vape Marketing Lawsuit Overview

The school district, which has requested a jury trial in the case, wants Juul to be held accountable for designing a vape pod that is “uniquely youth-oriented in design” and resembles a USB flash drive that is small enough to be easily concealed in school. The suit says the vape pen delivers “a quicker and more potent dose of nicotine to its users.”

The company is also accused of “marketing highly-addictive nicotine products to youth, who are, because of their age and lack of experience, particularly susceptible,” and of intentionally trying to gain access to schools “through summer camps and school programs, extensively targeting youth through social media campaigns and recruiting ‘influencers’ to market to teens.”

Tempe Union’s civil complaint says Juul, which has about 70% of the e-cigarette market, has “changed the educational experience of students across the nation.” The lawsuit cites a national survey of middle and high schools in which more than 43% of schools said they had to “implement not only an e-cigarette policy but a Juul-specific policy.”

The rampant Juul vaping on campus has had an impact on Tempe Union’s curriculum and necessitated district officials to spend more time and resources addressing discipline and supervision issues and dealing with students addicted to e-cigarettes, the lawsuit says.

Comparisons with Big Tobacco

Tempe Union’s suit draws comparisons between Big Tobacco and Juul and the vaping industry as a whole. It notes that youth tobacco smoking rates have dropped significantly after years of litigation, regulation – including severe restrictions on marketing cigarettes – and public health campaigns, but the “incredible progress towards eliminating youth tobacco and nicotine use has now largely been reversed due to e-cigarettes and vaping.”

Federal health officials have been sounding the alarm about the potential dangers of vaping and the avalanche of teenagers taking up the habit – so much so the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has called it an epidemic.

“Put simply, the marketing and product design of the Juul e-cigarette, and its incredible commercial success, are based upon tactics and strategies developed by Big Tobacco,” the lawsuit says. “While Big Tobacco was prohibited from employing these tactics and strategies to market traditional cigarettes (now)… nothing prevented Juul from doing so.”

Vape Marketing Lawsuits

The Tempe lawsuit is one of dozens filed nationwide involving youth vape marketing and the health problems the habit causes. Several of these lawsuits have been filed in Arizona. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sued Juul Labs in January, claiming it violated state consumer law and targeted young people with its fruit and candy flavored vaping pods. That lawsuit is ongoing, according to reports by the Associated Press.

Brnovich also successfully sued Eonsmoke over claims the company was illegally marketing its tobacco vape pods to kids, among other allegations. The court ruled Eonsmoke could no longer sell any of its vape pods or other items in Arizona and ordered the company to pay more than $22 million in penalties and fees.

Arizona was the second of two states to take legal action against Eonsmoke. Massachusetts filed a similar lawsuit in May 2019,

Juul has denied targeting teenagers in its marketing campaigns and has since stopped all advertising of its flavored vape pods. The Associated Press reported that Juul said in January it was focused on “working cooperatively with attorneys general, regulators, public health officials, and other stakeholders to combat underage use and convert adult smokers from combustible cigarettes.”

The Juul Labs Vape Marketing Lawsuit is Tempe Union High School District No. 213 v. Juul Labs, Inc., et al.,Case No. 3:19-md-2913-WHO in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented 
for informational purposes only.