Baron & Budd and Panish Shea & Boyle LLP File Suit on Behalf of the Compton Unified and Anaheim Elementary School Districts to Hold JUUL Labs, Inc. Responsible for Creating E-Cigarette Epidemic Impeding District-Wide Education
These suits come shortly after lawsuits were filed by the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Glendale Unified School District against JUUL for the same negligence and nuisance claims.
Today, the nationally recognized attorneys from Baron & Budd P.C. and Panish Shea & Boyle LLP announced they have filed lawsuits on behalf of the Compton Unified School District and Anaheim Elementary School District against JUUL Labs, Inc. for the company’s role in cultivating and fostering an e-cigarette epidemic that has invaded schools and diminished the education and learning environment across the Districts. The suits were filed in The Superior Court of California on December 19, 2019 (Case No. 30-2019-01119386-CU-MT-CXC & Case No. 19STCV45433).
These suits come shortly after lawsuits were filed by the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Glendale Unified School District against JUUL for the same negligence and nuisance claims.
The Compton and Anaheim lawsuits seek injunctive relief and an abatement remedy to combat the e-cigarette epidemic, which has severely impacted the school districts by interfering with normal school operations. The Districts are also seeking compensatory damages to provide relief from the district’s financial losses as a result of students being absent from school, coordinating outreach and education programs regarding the health risks of vaping, and enforcement actions – such as vape detectors, video surveillance, and staff to monitor the school’s property in an effort to combat the e-cigarette crisis.
“This dangerous culture created by JUUL has now triggered a resurgence of nicotine addiction and severe health issues amongst our youth,” said Baron & Budd Shareholder, John Fiske. “JUUL must be held accountable for their blatant disregard of the health and safety of these students.”
"Joining of the Districts further confirms the systemic and widespread vaping epidemic that continues to challenge school resources throughout the country and put the health and safety of students at risk," said Panish Shea & Boyle LLP partner Rahul Ravipudi. "JUUL is responsible for fueling this epidemic with their marketing tactics, flavored nicotine, and sleek, tech oriented products and must be held accountable for its role in targeting the youth of America."
Since entering the market in 2015, JUUL has dominated the e-cigarette industry and now controls over 70% of the market. Reports found that in 2018, 4.9 million middle and high school students used tobacco products, with 3.6 million of those students using e-cigarettes. From 2017 to 2018, youth e-cigarette users increased by 1.5 million. That growth is largely based on JUUL’s market strategy, which is to target school-age children to ensure the continual growth of their consumer base.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse found that the 2018 spike in nicotine vaping was the largest for any substance recorded in 44 years. JUUL’s aggressive, strategic marketing and product designs not only create an addiction crisis among youth consumers, but also a widespread burden on school districts.
ABOUT PANISH SHEA & BOYLE LLP
Panish Shea & Boyle LLP is a nationally recognized personal injury law firm representing plaintiffs in catastrophic injury, wrongful death, product liability, mass torts/class action, sexual abuse/assault and business litigation cases. Firm attorneys have obtained some of the most significant awards for plaintiffs in U.S. history, including a $4.9 billion verdict in Anderson v. GM, and are repeatedly recognized for excellence by other trial attorneys, legal organizations and publications nationwide. The firm is ranked by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers® as a "Tier 1" Firm – the highest ranking a firm can receive – in the areas of Plaintiffs Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions, Plaintiffs Personal Injury Litigation and Plaintiffs Product Liability Litigation, and is recognized as being among the top Plaintiff's law firms in the country by the National Law Journal.
ABOUT BARON & BUDD, P.C.
Baron & Budd, P.C. is among the largest and most accomplished plaintiffs’ law firms in the country. With more than 40 years of experience, Baron & Budd has the expertise and resources to handle complex litigation throughout the United States. As a law firm that takes pride in remaining at the forefront of litigation, Baron & Budd has spearheaded many significant cases for hundreds of entities and thousands of individuals. Since the firm was founded in 1977, Baron & Budd has achieved substantial national acclaim for its work on cutting-edge litigation, trying hundreds of cases to verdict and settling tens of thousands of cases in areas of litigation as diverse and significant as dangerous and highly addictive pharmaceuticals, defective medical devices, asbestos and mesothelioma, California wildfires and environmental contamination, fraudulent banking practices, e-cigarettes, motor vehicles, federal whistleblower cases, and other consumer fraud issues.
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