Silver Falls, Other Oregon School Districts File Lawsuits Against E-cigarette, Vape Companies

School districts across Oregon and the nation at large want vape banned. Already this is happening as vape companies get banned. In September JUUL Labs reached an a$438.5 million agreement with 34 territories and states including Oregon for its unethical sales practices.

According to Ellen Rosenblum, the Oregon state Attorney General, JUUL Labs willfully targeted the youth in its marketing of e-cigarettes while it was illegal for them to purchase and use those products. This in effect, seriously damaged the progress that had been made by states in reducing tobacco use across the country. With JUUL and other e-cigarette manufacturers targeting the youth, now a new generation has been hooked to tobacco products.

As one of the lead instigators of the case against Juul Oregon state will receive about &18.8 million from the settlement.  In addition, JUUL will refrain from targeting the youth in its marketing and funding education programs among many other measures to curb e-cigarette use among the youth.

Silver Falls School District Joins the Lawsuit against Vape Makers

But the success with the JUUL case is not the end. Now many other schools district from across the country are suing e-cigarette manufacturers to have a vaping ban.  Recently Silver Falls School District joined over 1,000 other districts nationwide in filing a lawsuit against vape producers and distributors.  The defendants in this new lawsuit include Altria Group Inc., and JUUL Labs Inc., among others.

According to Silver Falls Officials, the defendants in the case were behind successful social media campaigns such as the “Vaporized” campaign and the “Doit4juul” campaign. These campaigns made vaping cool for teens and kids and played a major role in turning teens’ addiction to nicotine into a public health crisis in the country.

Citing past studies, the Silver Falls school district officials pointed out that due to the reckless marketing tactics employed by e-cigarette manufacturers the percentage of Marion County 11th grade students who used vaping products rose from a low of 8.2 % to 13.1%  between 2017 and 2019.  They said many youths in the country were easy targets for makers of e-cigarettes because they did not understand the dangers associated with vaping products. They said vaping products contain nicotine and are thus highly addictive. In addition, they pose many other serious health risks.

Alleged Violations

The new lawsuit being filed by Silver Falls and other school districts alleges that Altria Inc., together with JUUL Inc., willfully violated the RICO Statute. According to the filed papers, the conduct of the defendants played a role in causing a public nuisance on school grounds across the country and caused many students to suffer significant harm that may continue throughout their lives.  This lawsuit thus seeks abatement as well as damages.

Silver Falls school board has engaged the services of Keller Rohrback law firm to represent its interest in the case.  The firm has already filed a case in the District of Oregon’s U.S. District Court on behalf of the Silver Falls School district.  This case will form part of lawsuits from multiple districts that is pending before Judge William Orrick III in San Francisco.