Muscogee Nation sues Juul Labs for deceptively advertising dangerous and addictive vape products to youth.
(Law360, February 14, 2023) -- The Muscogee (Creek) Nation on Monday hit Juul Labs Inc. and its parent company Altria Group Inc. with a RICO suit in San Francisco federal court over its alleged role in the tribe's "youth nicotine epidemic," claiming they deceptively advertised vape products and underplayed the products' dangers.
For half a century, the nation has fought a costly war to end nicotine addiction in the tribe but all that effort was wiped away when Juul and Altria marketed "a product that would make nicotine cool again," the tribe said in its complaint. This hit parents, schools and the medical community across the country and within the tribe with a new burden.
The 232-page complaint claims that when cigarette consumption hit its lowest levels in the United States in decades, the companies colluded to advertise e-cigarettes, a product infused with nicotine, as a means to snare an entire new generation turned off by smoking. It seeks damages under a number of federal statutes including the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
"They succeeded in hooking millions of youth, intercepting millions of adults trying to overcome their nicotine addictions, and, of course, earning billions of dollars in profits," the suit said. "Every step of the way, [Juul], by calculated intention, adopted the cigarette industry's playbook, in coordination with one of that industry's innovators, cigarette giant Altria." Read more.