MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison personally opened his state’s case against Juul Labs on Tuesday, accusing the vape maker of using “sophisticated products, clever advertising, and attractive flavors” to target children as the first of thousands of cases To bind nicotine The company achieved the process.
Minnesota is seeking more than $100 million in damages and accusing Washington, DC-based Juul of unlawfully targeting young people to addict a new generation to nicotine.
“You baited, deceived and hooked a whole new generation of children after Minnesotans reduced youth smoking rates to their lowest level in a generation,” Ellison said. “Now Big Tobacco is back with a new name but the same game. Juul wiped out our state’s work with their nifty products, clever ads, and attractive flavors.”
Juul has faced thousands of lawsuits across the country, but most have been settled, including 39 with other states and US territories. Not Minnesota, which reached a landmark $7.1 billion agreement with the tobacco industry in 1998. Minnesota added tobacco industry giant Altria, which previously owned a minority stake in Juul, as a co-defendant in 2020.
Altria completed its divestiture this month and says it effectively lost its $12.8 billion investment.
David Bernick, an attorney for Juul, promised the jury an “intense and interesting” trial. He said Juul’s purpose had always been to transition adult smokers from combustible cigarettes to a less hazardous product that would still provide a satisfying nicotine experience — not to attract children. E-cigarettes aren’t safe, but they’re not deadly either, he said; they are somewhere in between. And Juul has done nothing to intentionally boost youth demand, he argued, suggesting that the growth in youth vaping is more likely due to rising adult demand, leading to “leakage” among children.
William Geraghty, an attorney for Altria, disputed Ellison’s claims that Altria invested heavily in Juul because it ultimately wanted to get children addicted to its cigarettes, which include Marlboro. He said Altria bought its passive stake because Juul found the key to successfully transitioning adult smokers from traditional cigarettes to a less harmful product while Altria’s competing e-cigarettes failed in the market.
The lawsuit filed against Juul in 2019 alleges consumer fraud, creating a public nuisance, unjust enrichment, and conspiracy with Altria. The jury trial before Hennepin County District Judge Laurie Miller is expected to last about three weeks
Juul Labs was founded in 2015 due to the popularity of flavors like mango, mint, mixed fruit and crème brûlée. Teenagers fueled its rise, and some became addicted to Juul’s nicotine-rich capsules. Amid a backlash, Juul dropped all US advertising and discontinued most of its flavors in 2019, causing it to lose popularity among teenagers. Juul’s share of the now multi-billion-dollar market has fallen to about 33% from a peak of 75% in 2018.
In his opening remarks, Ellison argued that Juul and Altria broke the law by using fraudulent acts to sell tobacco products to minors. Juul intentionally made its products small and slim to make it harder for adults to recognize, formulated them to deliver high doses of nicotine to addicted children, added flavors that would appeal to young people, and leveraged a marketing campaign they knew would it would appeal to teenagers, Ellison said.
“Young people are innocent and want to discover something,” Ellison said. “Kids are attracted to shiny, sleek and cool things – and that’s what Juul and Altria targeted and chased.”
Bernick gave the jury an alternative explanation. Adult smokers don’t like being seen smoking because of social stigma, he said. So Juul designed its products to look different from traditional cigarettes and other e-cigarettes on the market at the time, so adults could use them discreetly, he said, not so kids could use them at school.
Bernick said Minnesota saw an “exponential increase” in teen vaping even before Juul hit the local market in late 2017. And he claimed that the company had already ended some of its most criticized practices, suggesting that Juul itself would not be to blame for the rise.
Richmond, Virginia-based Altria Group — formerly known as Phillip Morris Cos. — says she was not involved in the design of Juul, the creation of its fruits and other flavors, or the operations of the company.
In fact, Geraghty said, Juul stopped selling several of those flavors at the retail level before Altria invested in them. He denied that the marketing services Altria provided to Juul for about a year — including using its convenience store shelf space and Juul coupons slipped into Marlboro packs — did anything to increase vaping among Minnesota youth . Statistics from the state Department of Health show that youth vaping in the state actually leveled off between 2017 and 2020, he said.
And Geraghty said Altria never did anything with Juul sales — it would only have made money if the company’s value went up, which it didn’t.
Juul is now appealing the Food and Drug Administration’s denial of his request to continue selling his vaping products as an alternative to smoking for adults. Juul is still being sued by New York, California, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Alaska, Illinois, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.