The settlements follow three-plus years of hard-fought litigation in both state and federal court. Mr. VanZandt believes that resolving the litigation against Juul Labs and its officers and directors is in the best interests of all plaintiffs.
The four settlements resolve the personal injury, consumer class action, government entity, and tribal cases brought in the MDL and the JCCP. The personal injury settlement will provide meaningful compensation to people suffering from nicotine addiction and other injuries. The consumer class action settlement will remunerate consumers who purchased JUUL products. The government entity settlement will provide resources to school districts, cities, and counties to abate youth nicotine addiction in their communities. And the tribal settlement will provide similar much-needed funding for Native American tribes.
The settlements do not release claims against Altria Group, Inc., or its related companies that are also defendants in the federal or state litigation. Beasley Allen is committed to continuing the litigation against Altria, including the San Francisco Unified School District bellwether trial scheduled for April 2023 in the federal MDL.