Vaping Litigation Resolved Against Altria

Goza & Honnold is proud to have played a major role in reaching a $235 million global settlement to resolve claims against tobacco giant Altria Group, Inc., a JUUL investor that helped fuel the youth vaping crisis nationwide. The global settlement was reached in the middle of a federal court jury trial in Northern District of California. Goza & Honnold attorneys Kirk Goza, Brad Honnold, and Grace Galyon helped represent the plaintiff, San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), in the bellwether trial against Altria Group, Inc.  The Altria settlement comes 6 months after the historic JUUL settlement reached last December. Goza & Honnold was among the first firms in the country to file lawsuits against JUUL and other defendants for targeting youth with its advertising campaigns, failure to warn of the products addictive nature, and fraudulent marketing practices.  “We are proud to have played in an important role in this litigation which has always been about protecting schools, teachers and kids from the harms of these nicotine products,” said Goza & Honnold attorney Kirk Goza. The Altria and JUUL settlements offer meaningful relief and will directly address youth use of e-cigarettes nationwide. Together, these settlements conclude four years of litigation in both state and federal court and resolve over 8,500 personal injury cases, more than 1,400 government entity cases and a massive class of consumers — the federal multidistrict litigation captioned In re: Juul Labs, Inc., Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2913, and the coordinated state court proceeding captioned Juul Labs Product Cases, JCCP No. 5052.

Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome in another matter. Every case depends on its own facts.