Outcome: $300 Million Settlement
In Re JUUL Labs, Inc. Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, Case No.: 19-md-02913-WHO in the Northern District of California
In September 2023, Judge William J. Orrick of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted final approval of a nationwide class action settlement for $255 million in the litigation against JUUL Labs, Inc. (JLI) involving their manufacture of e-cigarettes and deceptive marketing of this product to youth users.
The settlement agreement provides compensation to class members who purchased JUUL products online or from physical stores before December 6, 2022. This case began in 2018 and was consolidated into an MDL in the Northern District of California. After years of litigation including several motions to dismiss, millions of pages of documents produced in discovery, and over 100 depositions, the court certified four classes and the case went to mediation. After the first bellwether trial, Altria came to the settlement table and agreed to another $45 million common fund for the class. Class members, many of whom were kids when they started using JUUL, will get meaningful recovery from this total $300 million settlement.