Beasley Allen Announces $235 Million Altria Settlement, End to Juul Litigation

Beasley Allen has announced a $235 million settlement against Altria Group Inc., a JUUL investor that helped fuel the nation’s youth vaping crisis. 

The May 2023 settlement ends a four-year effort to hold e-cigarette manufacturers and related entities responsible for harming youth. It resolves a massive class action case, 8,500 personal injury cases and over 1,400 government entity cases. 

JUUL vaping devices were introduced to consumers in 2015 to “improve the lives of the one billion adult smokers” on the planet. It claimed its primary mission was to help those already smoking traditional cigarettes and tobacco products to quit smoking. 

Beasley Allen was among the first firms in the country to file lawsuits against e-cigarette giant JUUL and its associate defendants. The lawsuits alleged the company intentionally created a device to hook a new generation on nicotine. It further alleged that JUUL targeted youth with its aggressive advertising campaigns, fraudulently marketing its devices and products and failing to warn of their highly addictive nature.

“We were honored to work with JUUL MDL leadership to achieve such a tremendous result for our deserving clients,” Beasley Allen attorney Joseph VanZandt said. This settlement offers meaningful relief by directly addressing the public health epidemic caused by e-cigarettes. It also bypasses further trials and appeals, ending litigation brought to protect and assist children, adolescents, young adults, parents, schools and health departments.”

The FDA has labeled vape device use among youth in the United States a national epidemic, reversing decades of progress in preventing teen smoking. To learn more about vaping and its effects on youth, visit our website’s JUUL Vaping Devices section.

VanZandt and Beasley Allen attorneys Soo Seok Yang and Davis Vaughn helped represent the San Francisco Unified School District against the company.