Arizona’s Attorney General has obtained a $22.5 million judgment against New Jersey-based vaping company Eonsmoke, along with a court order permanently forbidding the business from selling its products within the state.
Attorney General Mark Brnovich sued Eonsmoke and e-cigarette giant Juul Labs last January, on grounds that both companies have violated state consumer fraud laws and targeted youth with their flavored vaping products. The lawsuit said that while Juul Labs has since suspended its marketing for flavoured products, Eonsmoke actually doubled its efforts its flavoured products.
Eonsmoke’s website opens with a statement saying it has ceased operations “due to rapidly declining circumstances, coronavirus, regulatory, and competitor litigations.”
Additionally, Eonsmoke did not mount a defense to the consumer fraud lawsuit, hence a Maricopa County Superior Court judge issued what is known as a default judgment. Of course none of this is surprising given the fact that Eonsmoke is a smaller business than Juul, and given the recent crises faced by the vaping industry, it may be safely assumed that it does not have the financial resources to fight in the same manner.
In fact, Eonsmoke’s website opens with a statement saying it has ceased operations “due to rapidly declining circumstances, coronavirus, regulatory, and competitor litigations.”
Meanwhile, the lawsuit against Juul Labs continues and the company is defending itself against Brnovich in court. Juul insists that it is focused on “working cooperatively with attorneys general, regulators, public health officials, and other stakeholders to combat underage use and convert adult smokers from combustible cigarettes.”
Juul faces multiple lawsuits
As of last year, Juul has been the recipient of multiple lawsuits from different entities. A recent 40-page complaint filed in San Diego Superior Court on behalf of the San Diego Unified School District, has accused the manufacturer of disrupting “the learning environment,” and causing an increase in student absences due to vaping-related injuries.
Additionally besides Arizona, almost 40 other US states have been looking into how Juul markets its products and whether the company has targeted youths and made misleading claims about the nicotine content in its devices. The state officials have also said that they will be investigating Juul’s claims about the effectiveness of their device as a smoking cessation tool.
on: Vapingpost
by: Diane Caruana
October 14th, 2020