Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that a settlement had been reached Monday in a lawsuit against e-cigarette makers JUUL and Altria for creating sleek vaping devices and flavors and then marketing them towards young people.
The announced settlement comes as closing arguments were expected to begin in the state's trial against JUUL and Altria this week.
Ellison first sued JUUL in 2019 for violating Minnesota’s consumer-protection laws, breaching its duty of reasonable care, and creating a public nuisance. That lawsuit was amended in 2020 to include Altria, which spent $12.8 billion to acquire a 35 percent share in JUUL in 2018.
"In Minnesota, the health and safety of our children is of paramount importance. And yet, JUUL products exposed a whole new generation of kids to the addictive and dangerous drug nicotine," Ellison wrote in a statement." After three weeks of trial highlighting and bringing into the public record the actions that JUUL and Altria took that contributed to the youth vaping epidemic, we reached a settlement in the best interest of Minnesotans."
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In early March, a court denied JUUL and Altria's motion for a summary judgement, meaning the state's case against them would go to trial. That trial began March 28 with the state resting its case on April 11.
Of the more than a dozen states and hundreds of local governments that have sued JUUL, Minnesota was the first to go to trial.
Attorneys were expected to deliver closing arguments on Monday.
"Right now, the terms of the final settlement are not public, but we will announce them soon. When we do, it will be alongside those harmed, the community, elected officials, and others responsible for protecting our children," added Ellison.
Officials with the state's premier drug prevention program for kids are celebrating today's announced settlement.
It comes on the same day the state health department announced the winners of its "escape the vape" video challenge.
The DARE program, which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, sends officers into classrooms to teach kids about the perils of drugs and alcohol and equip them with tools to make healthy choices. Executive Director Kathi Ackerman says the settlement will hopefully help put a dent in a habit that's become all too common with teens.
“They've learned all along that smoking a cigarette, you know, kind of isn't the thing anymore,” says Ackerman. “Vaping they don't think is dangerous. They hear things online and what have you, that it isn't dangerous.”
Ackerman says vaping is especially dangerous since adolescent brains aren't fully developed until around age 25.
According the the AG's office, Minnesota had been experiencing the lowest levels of youth tobacco use in decades prior to JUUL's emergence, which "wiped out the State’s hard-earned progress in combatting youth tobacco use."
Details of the settlement could be made public within the next 30 days.
Ellison's statement continued:
We followed in the footsteps of former Attorney General Skip Humphrey, who led the historic 1998 tobacco trial in Minnesota. Once again, Minnesota has demonstrated leadership in taking these cases head on, including going to trial to hold tobacco companies accountable, protect our community’s health, and protect our kids. One of my goals in bringing this case was to send a message: we will not tolerate youth marketing of nicotine products in Minnesota. My office will continue to do its part to protect kids from getting hooked on these harmful products.
I want to thank our trial team, including our assistant attorneys general and attorneys from Robins Kaplan and Zimmerman Reed. The State and local agencies that have been taking on the youth vaping trend for years, including the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Department of Human Services, have done tremendous work and have my deep gratitude. Finally, I want to express my appreciation to Judge Laurie J. Miller and the members of the jury, who spent three weeks diligently listening to the evidence.