E-cigarette manufacturer Juul has agreed to pay $462m to settle claims made by six US states, including New York and California. The claims accuse Juul of unlawfully marketing its addictive products to minors. The settlement takes the number of US states that Juul has settled with to 45, at a cost exceeding $1bn.
Juul did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, which also involved Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New Mexico, as well as the District of Columbia. Additionally, Juul is still facing a lawsuit in Minnesota, and lawsuits or investigations are ongoing in Florida, Michigan, Maine, and Alaska.
Last year, Juul agreed to pay $1.7bn to settle lawsuits from both local government entities and individual consumers. Juul responded to regulator pressure and pulled most of its flavors from the market in 2019, halting much of its advertising. The company’s largest investor, tobacco corporation Marlboro maker Altria Group, still faces claims over its alleged role in Juul’s product marketing, and has yet to settle.
