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Mealey's Tobacco

  • October 13, 2025

    Dead Smoker’s Estate Wins $12M After Massachusetts Jury Trial

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A jury in Massachusetts state court awarded $1 million in compensatory damages and $11 million in punitive damages, split between two tobacco companies, after rejecting the widow’s defective design claims but finding in favor of the widow on fraud-based claims relating to the tobacco companies’ material misrepresentations that her late husband relied upon before switching to filtered cigarettes, later being diagnosed with lung cancer and dying at age 55.

  • October 13, 2025

    United States Wins $38M Foreign Tax Dispute With Altria

    RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia federal judge granted the United States’ motion for judgment on the pleadings and dismissed with prejudice tobacco company Altria Group Inc.’s claim that it was improperly taxed roughly $38 million by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service for profits from a foreign entity it indirectly invested in under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) and denied other pending motions as moot, finding that the tax at issue was not arbitrary.

  • October 13, 2025

    Hawaii Jury Awards $350K To Estate Of Dead Smoker

    KONA, Hawaii — A jury in Hawaii state court on Oct. 10 awarded $350,000 in compensatory damages to the estate of a smoker who died at 68 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) after smoking for nearly 50 years, split fault between the smoker and tobacco company R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) and rejected claims that retailers were in the “chain of distribution.” VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • October 13, 2025

    Los Angeles’ Biggest Vape Seller Will Pay $350K To Settle Suit For Selling Flavors

    LOS ANGELES — A California state judge entered a consent judgment resolving an action brought by the Los Angeles city attorney against a business owner and his two tobacco retail businesses, collectively described as “the largest exclusive tobacco retailer” in Los Angeles, with the defendants agreeing to pay $350,000 to resolve claims they violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by selling flavored e-cigarette products in violation of a statewide ban on flavored tobacco.

  • October 10, 2025

    Chinese, Hong Kong Companies Agree To Cease Disposable Vape Sales In California

    SAN DIEGO — E-cigarette maker NJOY LLC, an Altria Group Inc. subsidiary, and two manufacturers of flavored disposable vapes (FDVs) on Oct. 9 filed a joint motion in California federal court for consent judgment and permanent injunctive relief under which the Chinese and Hong Kong-based defendants agree to permanent injunctive relief ceasing sales of FDVs to California in return for NJOY dropping claims against them for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and federal cigarette regulations.

  • October 09, 2025

    Vape Makers, Retailers Bring New Challenges To FDA E-Cigarette Bans

    NEW ORLEANS — E-cigarette manufacturers and retailers in five consolidated cases filed a petitioners’ opening brief in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s bans of their e-cigarettes and e-liquid products, arguing for vacatur of the bans based on incorrect ingredient lists and the FDA’s ban of “zero-nicotine” products that were intended to help smokers quit.

  • October 08, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Suit By ‘Public Face’ Of Vape Brand Who Claimed Wrongful Removal

    LAS VEGAS — A Nevada federal judge dismissed for lack of jurisdiction a complaint by the former CEO of a brand used to sell disposable vapes and other products in which he accused two former colleagues and his former companies of violating his right of publicity and deceptive trade practices after finding that the plaintiff failed to plead that personal jurisdiction exists over the defendants in Nevada based on their operation of websites and social media accessible from that state.

  • October 07, 2025

    Cigar Companies Sue California Over Unflavored Tobacco Registration Law

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — Premium cigar manufacturers, importers and trade associations filed a complaint in California federal court against the state’s attorney general seeking to enjoin a new state law that they say will “push the premium cigar industry off a cliff” by requiring companies to file complex applications to prove their products are unflavored, allegedly in violation of the U.S. Constitution, principles of federal preemption and state administrative law.

  • October 07, 2025

    High Court Won’t Review $95M Verdict In E-Cigarette Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by e-cigarette company R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJR), which sought review of a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s ruling upholding a more than $95 million jury verdict against RJR for infringing three Altria Client Services LLC patents for pod-based e-cigarettes.

  • October 06, 2025

    Key ERISA Claims Survive Dismissal In Yet Another Tobacco Surcharge Challenge

    MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The tally of challenges to health plan tobacco surcharges that have at least partly survived dismissal continues to grow, with a Tennessee federal judge letting key claims continue in a putative class action that is part of a recent wave of similar lawsuits.

  • October 03, 2025

    Hawaii Smoker May Seek Punitive Damages For Personal Harm Only, Judge Says

    LIHUE, Hawaii — A Hawaii state judge granted in part and denied in part two tobacco companies’ motion to dismiss a personal injury lawsuit filed against them by a smoker with bladder cancer and his wife, dismissing the smoker’s claim for fraud and partly dismissing his claim for punitive damages, writing that the smoker may seek punitives for “harm to himself,” but not harm to “society.”

  • October 01, 2025

    DOJ Sues Vape Distributors For Selling Unauthorized Products

    After the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies announced the seizure of $86.5 million worth of unauthorized vape products, the Department of Justice filed 12 complaints in federal courts across the country seeking permanent injunctive relief against businesses and associated individuals who are alleged to have marketed misbranded electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) including e-cigarettes and flavored e-liquids from Hong Kong and China despite previous warnings.

  • September 30, 2025

    Judge Remands Suit Against Nicotine Pouch Sellers, Denies Attorney Fees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge granted a nonprofit health group’s motion to remand its lawsuit accusing two companies that sell Zyn nicotine pouches of false marketing to the District of Columbia Superior Court after finding that federal jurisdiction does not exist over the case and denied the nonprofit’s motion for attorney fees.

  • September 25, 2025

    Oral Arguments Held In Appeal Of $475K Punitive Award For Smoker’s Estate

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Attorneys representing a tobacco company urged the Fourth District Florida Court of Appeal during oral arguments on Sept. 24 to reverse or order remittitur of a $475,000 punitive damages verdict awarded in favor of the estate of a dead smoker, arguing that the award is excessive because it is 11 times greater than the compensatory damages the estate was awarded.

  • September 22, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Antitrust Claims Against Nicotine Pouch Maker, Tobacco Company

    RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia federal judge dismissed with prejudice a Zyn nicotine pouch consumer’s putative class action against the maker of the pouches and its parent company for violating state and federal antitrust laws by allegedly conspiring to create a monopoly over the nicotine pouch market and intentionally slowing production to increase prices after finding that the plaintiff never alleged that the defendants were “horizontal competitors.”

  • September 19, 2025

    Tobacco Defendants Object To Opening Statements In Widow’s Wrongful Death Suit

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Two tobacco companies and a local retailer filed objections to certain allegedly improper comments in the opening statement of a smoker’s widow after her wrongful death trial kicked off in Massachusetts state court, where the widow claims that her husband was deceived by the tobacco companies into believing filtered cigarettes were safer before he died from lung cancer at age 55. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • September 18, 2025

    FDA Says High Court Precedent Bars Ban Challenge By Vape Maker, Retailer

    NEW ORLEANS — The Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and their respective leaders filed a brief urging the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to deny a petition for review filed by an e-liquids manufacturer and a retailer, which argue that the FDA in banning sales of the manufacturer’s products improperly disregarded its “adult-oriented branding and trade dress.”

  • September 17, 2025

    Law Firms Dismissed From Chinese Vape Dispute After Arbitration Compelled

    LOS ANGELES — A California e-cigarette technology company and its owners, along with two law firms, filed in California federal court a joint stipulation of dismissal of all claims against the law firms for claims related to their representation of a Chinese company that distributed vape devices after the company’s owner won a motion to compel arbitration of all claims against him.

  • September 16, 2025

    Judge Refuses To Enjoin Fresno Regulation Of Smoke Shops

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge denied a smoke shop industry association’s motion for a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of a new ordinance in Fresno, Calif., that regulates smoke shops and bars the sale of flavored tobacco, finding the association is not likely to prevail on its claims of violations of the U.S. and California constitutions.

  • September 16, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Fee Sanction For Misconduct In Cigar Antitrust Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed a district court’s award of attorney fees and costs to a cigar maker as sanctions for misconduct by another cigar manufacturer in the latter’s 10-year-old antitrust and breach of contract lawsuit, finding that the trial court properly exercised its inherent authority to reach a “holistic and equitable resolution of this protracted dispute.”

  • September 15, 2025

    Tobacco Companies Seek Dismissal Of Suit By Hawaiian Smoker With Lung Cancer

    HILO, Hawaii — Three tobacco companies facing a personal injury lawsuit filed in Hawaii state court against them and local retailers by a smoker with lung cancer moved to strike the plaintiff’s prayer for punitive damages, which they say is barred by the doctrine of res judicata based on Hawaii’s entry into the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), and her fraud-based claims for lack of specificity.

  • September 12, 2025

    Judge Won’t Enjoin Wisconsin Vape Directory Law Pending Appeal to 7th Circuit

    MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin federal judge denied a motion for a preliminary injunction pending an appeal to the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals by the vaping advocacy group, e-cigarette retailers and two e-cigarette users who recently lost their bid to bar enforcement of a Wisconsin law that enacts a new tobacco product directory and bans the sale of certain synthetic nicotine e-cigarette products.

  • September 11, 2025

    D.C. Attorney General Says 7-Eleven To Pay $1.2M For Vape Sales Near Schools

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The attorney general of the District of Columbia released an assurance of voluntary compliance entered into between his office and convenience store operator 7-Eleven Inc., pursuant to which the company will pay $1.2 million for selling vapes and e-cigarettes in proximity to District of Columbia schools.

  • September 11, 2025

    California Seeks $1.1M In Penalties Against Flavored Vape Seller

    FRESNO, Calif. — A California federal judge discharged an order to show cause why the CEO of a vape retail company should not be sanctioned after the director updated his address on the docket, one day after the California Attorney General’s Office moved for summary judgment seeking a more than $1.1 million fine against the CEO and his company for violating federal and state tobacco laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by selling disposable flavored vape products without a license or youth restrictions.

  • September 10, 2025

    Tobacco Company Urges Reversal Of $11.5M Verdict For Smoker’s Death

    MIAMI — A tobacco company in a Sept. 9 cross-appellant brief urges the Florida Third District Court of Appeal to reverse an $11.5 million judgment against it in favor of the widow of a smoker who died from lung cancer, writing that the court allowed “unreliable” evidence on the smoker’s Engle class membership and that punitive damages deliberations were also tainted by improper evidence.