Tobacco & Vaping Lawsuits
It is now well-known that the tobacco industry, starting in the 1950s, engaged in a fraudulent scheme to conceal the dangers of cigarettes and engineered its tobacco products to addict consumers starting when they were young teenagers. While the tobacco industry continues to sell traditional cigarettes that are defective and unreasonably dangerous products, a new threat to teenagers and young adults has emerged. E-Cigarettes, also known as vaping products, have exploded in popularity among school-aged children as product packaging, marketing campaigns and flavors have been used to capture a new generation of smokers. The traditional cigarette and the E-cigarette or vaping products are “nicotine delivery devices”. As high-level tobacco executives often admitted privately, the tobacco industry is not in the cigarette business, they are in the nicotine business. Nicotine in cigarettes (or in any inhaled device) is a powerfully addictive drug that is even more difficult to quit than even cocaine or heroin. While traditional cigarettes cause death slowly over a period of decades (with over 100,000 people dying each year from smoking-induced lung cancer) the long- term effects of E-cigarette vaping is unknown because the products are still new. However, the increasing popularity of E-cigarette vaping products (including JUUL) has already sounded alarms with a growing epidemic of “acute” (immediate) injuries and even death. The Food and Drug Administration has reported over 60 confirmed deaths from vaping and over 2000 cases of lung damage requiring hospitalization.
How Do I Know if I Have a Tobacco or Vaping Lawsuit?
Tobacco lawsuits have been litigated now for decades with mixed results across many states. Our firm’s tobacco department, led by partners Jerome Block and Amber Long have a proven track record in tobacco cases with victories in New York in the Mulholland case against Philip Morris and the Clinton case against American Tobacco Company. Our firm also was lead trial counsel in a historic victory in a Massachusetts menthol lung cancer lawsuit in which the jury in the Summerlin case awarded $43.1 million dollars. In that case, the jury found against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company on plaintiff’s failure to warn claims, breach of implied warranty claims (based on both failure to warn and product design defect), fraudulent concealment, and punitive damages. The key to the Summerlin case, as in most tobacco cases, is the strong evidence of addiction of cigarettes. In closing argument in the Summerlin case, partner Jerome Block, started with this: “Addiction. Addiction goes to the heart of this case… Mr. Summerlin’s addiction to menthol cigarettes that were purposely designed to addict… they did things to make those cigarettes as addictive as they could. Mr. Summerlin’s addiction to menthol cigarettes… was established for years and years and years before there were any warnings on the pack.” The Summerlin tobacco jury verdict was featured as an episode of The Great Trials Podcast. Our law firm has upheld landmark jury victories against tobacco companies by defending verdicts on appeal and winning post-trial motions.
The firm is now applying its expertise gained through years of tobacco litigation to investigate potential E-cigarette or vaping death or injury lawsuits. The common thread between the traditional tobacco lawsuit and the E-cigarette vaping lawsuit is nicotine addiction that ultimately leads to injury or death. The firm is also investigating potential THC (marijuana) vaping product lawsuits. The FDA has documented cases of serious lung injury and death from both E-cigarette nicotine products and THC vaping products.
If you or a family member has experienced serious lung injury or death from the use of cigarettes or E-cigarette vaping products, our firm will provide you with a free case evaluation. We guarantee that you will pay no attorney’s fees unless we recover money in your case. Our attorneys and staff are experienced and compassionate. Feel free to contact us now by having a “live chat” on this page, filling out a website form or calling the number at the top of the screen.
