E-cig maker settles with city for $23.8M

Lawsuit alleged company marketed, sold to minors

The city on Friday announced a $23.8 million settlement with Juul Labs, the electronic cigarette maker it accused in a lawsuit of marketing and selling vaping products to minors.

The money will go toward preventing and reducing youth vaping through several measures, including education, according to a statement from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office.

“E-cigarette businesses cannot be allowed to come in our city and boost their profits at the expense of minors,” Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s top health official, said in the statement.

“We’ve made remarkable progress over the last 20 years in reducing smoking, and now with these resources, we’re ready to continue the fight against vaping.”

Chicago high school students are 10 times more likely to use e-cigarettes than traditional cigarettes, according to the statement.

The settlement resolves a 2020 lawsuit that alleged JUUL violated city ordinances by marketing to minors and selling its products without implementing strict age verification requirements.

The e-cigarette giant last year agreed to a nearly $440 million settlement with nearly three dozen states — Illinois was not one of them — that accused it of hooking minors on vaping and masking its dangers.

Since 2018, the city’s law department has filed nine lawsuits against 45 online vaping retailers and has served notices of violation on many more. The suits have resulted in dozens of settlements equalling nearly $30 million and agreements to change business practices, according to Lightfoot’s office.

Separately, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office sued JUUL in Cook County Circuit Court in 2019 for marketing to minors, misrepresenting the potency of nicotine in its products and misrepresenting Juul’s products as smoking cessation devices.

The lawsuit is pending.