E-Cigarette Lawsuits

Juul and other e-cigarette users are filing vaping lawsuits against vape manufacturers after developing seizures, lung injuries, diseases and strokes. Many e-cigarette lawsuits claim individuals became addicted to e-cigarettes, which worsened their health conditions.

Last Modified: March 1, 2024
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Why E-Cigarette Lawsuits Are Being Filed

Many e-cig lawsuits target Juul Labs Inc. for intentionally marketing its vaping products to teens and deceiving customers about the addictiveness of vaping. The number of e-cigarette lawsuits has been growing alongside rapidly increased e-cigarette use among teens and young people.

The U.S. Surgeon General has said there is an “e-cigarette epidemic among youth.” Most e-cig lawsuits have been filed by young adults or parents of underage children who were unaware of the side effects of vaping.

Many people who filed lawsuits say they became addicted to using e-cigarettes which led to or worsened their conditions. They claim they were unaware that vape fluids contained high levels of nicotine, a highly addictive substance. Others also filed lawsuits after they were injured when their e-cigarette exploded or caught fire.

Status of Juul Lawsuits

As of March 2024, there were 5,108 Juul lawsuits from around the United States combined in multidistrict litigation (MDL), MDL 2913. The cases represent both class action lawsuits and individual personal injury cases filed in four states.

Recent Juul settlements include:

  • In March 2023, Juul agreed to pay $23.8 million to the city of Chicago to settle claims that the e-cigarette maker deceptively marketed its products and sold vaping products to underage users.
  • In January 2023, a California judge approved a $255 million settlement in the Juul class action lawsuit. The Juul class action settlement resolves claims that Juul deceptively marketed its products.
  • In December 2022, Juul agreed to settle about 5,000 cases in the MDL, for an undisclosed amount. According to Bloomberg’s sources, the amount was about $1.2 billion.

In addition, several states have sued Juul Labs Inc. for contributing to the youth vaping epidemic. In June 2021, Juul agreed to pay $40 million to North Carolina in the first state lawsuit settlement. In September 2022, Juul agreed to pay about $440 million to 33 states to settle claims that the vape maker marketed its products to teens.

Claims in Juul E-Cigarette Lawsuits
  • Juul marketed its products in a manner to attract minors
  • The company promoted nicotine use
  • Its marketing failed to warn that its nicotine products are more potent and addictive than tobacco cigarettes
  • The company’s products are defective and unreasonably dangerous

No trials in the mass litigation have been scheduled yet.

Most of the initial lawsuits in the mass litigation were filed before reports of widespread vaping-related lung injuries and deaths began cropping up in mid-2019. The New York Times reported in October 2019 that several people who were affected had used Juul brand nicotine products before becoming sick.

Big Tobacco Companies Named in E-Cigarette Lawsuits

Juul lawsuits also name Altria and Philip Morris, the Big Tobacco companies that make and market Marlboro and other tobacco cigarettes. Altria purchased 35 percent of Juul in December 2018.

Big Tobacco’s Big Lawsuit Settlement
Big Tobacco companies named in e-cig lawsuits were part of the largest civil court settlement in United States history. In the 1998 tobacco settlement, tobacco companies agreed to pay $246 billion over 25 years to settle lawsuits with 46 states, the District of Columbia and five United States territories.

Other e-cigarette lawsuits not included in the Juul mass litigation may also name other e-cigarette makers with ties to tobacco companies. These may include Imperial Brands, which markets Blu e-cigs, and British American Tobacco, which markets four e-cigarettes including Vuse and Vype.

In December 2022, Juul agreed to pay an undisclosed settlement amount to resolved about 10,000 lawsuits.

Juul Faces Wrongful Death Lawsuit

The first wrongful death lawsuit against Juul was filed in a California federal court in October 2019.

The mother of 18 year old David Wakefield claimed he was first exposed to Juul marketing when he was 15, took up vaping sometimes afterward and continued vaping for years.

The complaint said that a year after he started vaping, Wakefield was hospitalized for three days due to breathing and lung complications. He was so addicted to nicotine that hospital staff had to use nicotine patches to ease his cravings.

Wakefield continued vaping after he was released from the hospital. His father found the teen had died in his sleep early on the morning of August 31, 2019 according to the complaint.

The lawsuit claimed Juul marketed its products to minors and the company’s “conduct and the defects in Juul products were a substantial factor in causing Wakefield’s death.”

Lawsuit Claims Juul Sold 1 Million Contaminated Vape Pods

A former senior vice president at Juul used the company in October 2019, claiming he was fired after he raised alarms over 1 million contaminated, mint-flavored Juul pods shipped to retailers and consumers. The lawsuit did not specify the exact type of contamination.

Siddharth Breja’s lawsuit claimed Juul “refused to recall those contaminated pods or even issue a product health and safety warning.” It also claimed the company sold expired products over his repeated protests.

The company’s former CEO, Kevin Burns, told CBS This Morning in September 2019 that Juul’s products were legal and tested for toxicity. He said Juul would not sell a dangerous product.

The lawsuit does not draw any connection between the tainted pods and the 2019 outbreak of EVALI — e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury. It also does not draw a link with any other vaping-related injuries.

Lawsuits Blame Vaping for Breathing Problems

Lawsuits are expected from people hospitalized or those who lost loved ones to EVALI. The vaping-related lung injury was first reported in mid-2019 and quickly spread to hundreds of people.

As of Feb. 18, 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had identified 2,807 hospitalized cases of the lung injury. The CDC also confirmed 68 deaths from EVALI at that time.

By early 2020, the CDC had determined that vitamin E acetate was “strongly linked to the EVALI outbreak.” The chemical is used as a thickening agent in vape fluids, particularly those fluids containing THC, the principal psychoactive substance in marijuana.

In June 2022, the FDA issues marketing denial orders (MDOs) that created a Juul ban that prohibited the sale of vaping products in the U.S. However, in July 2022, the FDA issued a stay on the ban while it reviews additional data. Until further notice, Juul products are still being sold in the U.S. In September 2022, Juul filed a lawsuits against the FDA for failing to disclose the documents it used to enact the ban.

San Francisco and other cities and states have launched similar vaping bans.

Juul Lung Disease and Lung Injury Lawsuits

Other e-cig users have filed lawsuits that claim chemicals in the e-cig fluids caused bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia, abbreviated as BOOP. Still other lawsuits claim vaping caused hemorrhagic strokes, which occur when bleeding suddenly interferes with the brain.

A pair of college students from Alabama filed a lawsuit in 2019 claiming they developed serious lung disorders from vaping Juul e-cigarettes.

Elizabeth Swearingen was a 19-year-old student at the University of Alabama. She had been a cross country athlete in high school. But the lawsuit claims she “now has trouble breathing during the simplest of tasks.”

John Thomas Via Peavy was a 19-year-old student at Auburn University who had been using Juul e-cigarettes since he was 17. The lawsuit claims he suffered “severe breathing problems after using Juul.” The complaint says Peavy continues to have chest-congestion and a loss of appetite.

The complaint claims that both Swearingen and Peavy unintentionally swallowed vape fluids while using Juul.

Did You Know?
Swallowing e-fluids used in any e-cig or vape pen can be fatal. If you swallow vaping fluids, you should immediately call Poison Control at 800-222-1222 for expert help.

A 2018 study in the journal Thorax found e-cig vapor disables immune cells in the lung and increases inflammation. Researchers said it could increase the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD.

COPD symptoms are similar to another lung condition called bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia, or BOOP. The American Lung Association has warned that BOOP is a potential vaping side effect.

In April 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began investigating reports of seizures related to vaping. Most of the reports involved teens and young adults. Some people who suffered these seizures began filing lawsuits while the FDA investigation was still under way.

Parents of a 15-year-old Florida girl filed a lawsuit against Juul Labs, Altria Group Inc. and Philip Morris USA Inc. in 2019 after the teen suffered seizures they blamed on nicotine ingestion from vaping. Erin and Jared NesSmith claim their daughter became addicted to Juul e-cigarettes. Juul vape pods each contain as much nicotine as a pack of tobacco cigarettes.

The lawsuit claims she unintentionally swallowed e-cig fluids while using Juul.

As of August 2019, the FDA had identified 127 reports of vaping-related seizures or neurological symptoms that occurred between 2010 and 2019. Many of these cases could be a potential e-cig lawsuit.

Nicotine Arms Race
When Juul e-cigarettes first appeared on the market, they delivered nearly two to five times more nicotine than other e-cigarettes.

Seizures are a known side effect of nicotine toxicity. But many teens don’t realize nicotine is an e-cigarette danger. A 2019 study in the journal Pediatrics found that 40 percent of teens did not even realize the vape fluids they used contained nicotine.

The FDA found many of the seizure reports it examined involved teens and young adults. Luka Kinard of North Carolina suffered seizures after vaping the equivalent of 80 tobacco cigarettes per day. He was 14 years old at the time and had to check into rehab to break his nicotine habit, according to a report in the Greensboro News & Record.

Lawsuit Claims Man’s Juul Use Caused a Massive Stroke

Juul e-cigarette with pods
JUUL accounts for 75 percent of the United States e-cigarette market, according to research in the journal Tobacco Control.

Maxwell Berger sued Juul Labs in 2019 claiming his two-Juul-pods-a-day habit led to his massive stroke before he turned 20. Vaping two of the pods would mean he was ingesting as much nicotine as someone who smoked 40 tobacco cigarettes a day.

Berger said in his complaint that he started using a Juul e-cigarette while still a senior in high school in 2015. He claimed that two years later he was so addicted to nicotine that he was using the device every 10 minutes.

He suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke in July 2017. Hemorrhagic strokes can occur when a blood vessel bursts near the brain. Blood builds up in the skull, putting pressure on the brain and damaging it.

Berger’s lawsuit claimed he needed three brain surgeries and spent 100 days in the hospital as a result. The complaint said he suffers paralysis on his left side, speech impairment and loss of half his vision in each eye.

A 2019 study presented at the International Stroke Conference found e-cigarette users had higher risks of stroke and heart problems than non-users. The researchers found e-cig users had a 71 percent higher stroke risk, 59 percent higher heart attack risk and a 40 percent higher heart disease risk.

How to File an E-Cigarette or Juul Lawsuit

People who file e-cigarette lawsuits have experienced a serious health condition connected to vaping and even from swallowing liquid in an e-cigarette pod while vaping. Those who have been diagnosed with addiction, seizures, severe lung conditions or strokes after vaping may be able to file a product liability lawsuit against the company that made the e-cigarette they used.

If you are considering a lawsuit, you should preserve the e-cigarette device as well as any vaping fluids. Additionally, you should document how long you’ve been vaping, how often you used your e-cigarette in a typical day and how many vape pods you used in a day.

Finding a Juul Lawyer

Because the medical injuries involved can be complex, people should seek out an attorney with experience in filing medical-related lawsuits. A personal injury attorney with experience in product liability has the background to handle Juul claims.

Look for an attorney who is familiar with the Juul MDL and the types of cases involved. You want to work with an attorney who will ensure your claim includes sufficient evidence and medical records proving harm.

Product liability lawyers usually offer free consultations to determine if you have a case. They also generally do not charge a fee unless they win your case. Ask any lawyer you consult with about charges up front to understand their fees.

Questions Your Juul Lawyer May Ask

What injuries are you experiencing?
Your lawyer will want to know whether you have experienced any of the following injuries: seizures, bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP), pulmonary disease, EVALI, respiratory failure, hemorrhagic stroke, ischemic stroke, heart attack, nicotine addiction that led to worsened conditions, or the death of a loved one. Be prepared to provide a copy of your or your loved one’s medical records so that your attorney can confirm the diagnosis.

When was the last time you vaped?
It may be difficult for you to remember when you last vaped. Do your best to provide your attorney with an estimated date for when you began using e-cigarettes consistently as well as when you stopped. Knowing about your e-cigarette use and when you were diagnosed with related injuries can help your attorney build your case.

What e-cigarette brand did you use?
Several defendants are being named in e-cigarette lawsuits, including Juul Labs, Altria-Phillip Morris, British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands. Your Juul attorney will want to know if your vaping injuries have made certain daily activities more difficult for you than they were before.

How frequently did you vape?
To assess your case, your lawyer will want to know how often you used your e-cigarette and how many vape pods you typically used. If you can’t remember, do your best to provide him or her with an estimate.

Are you able to provide copies of your medical records?
People seeking compensation for e-cigarette side effects should have copies of their medical records on hand when speaking with their attorney. These records will help them confirm such facts as your date of diagnosis.

How have your vaping-related injuries impacted your daily life?
Your attorney will want to know if your vaping injuries have made certain daily activities more difficult for you than they were before. Be prepared to discuss the emotional and mental effects these injuries have had on your life.

Was your child exposed to Juul’s advertising across social media platforms?
Juul Labs Inc., which owns 75 percent of the e-cigarette market, knowingly marketed its products to minors across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. The lawyer handling your e-cigarette case will want to know whether your child was exposed to Juul ads and social media influencers who were promoting Juul products.

Have you tried to quit vaping?
Nicotine addiction, one of the serious side effects associated with e-cigarette use, can make it difficult for you to quit vaping, but it is possible if you have the desire to quit and set a plan to do so. Your attorney will want to know whether you’ve made any attempts to quit vaping.

Are You Eligible to File a Juul Lawsuit?

People who have used Juul and suffered injury, illness or addiction may be entitled to compensation in a Juul lawsuit. If you aren’t sure if you qualify, speak to a Juul lawyer.

Lawyers are accepting cases for adults injured by Juul e-cigarettes. They are accepting addiction cases for people who became addicted to Juul before they turned 18. Claimants for addiction lawsuits must have used a Juul vaporizer prior to November 2018 and before turning 18.

Parents or legal guardians can file a Juul addiction lawsuit on behalf of a child or teen who became addicted or was injured by Juul.

Injuries that may qualify you to file a lawsuit include:
  • Death of a loved one
  • Heart attack
  • Hemorrhagic strokes, or bleeding in the brain
  • Lung diseases and injuries, including bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP) and e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI)
  • Nicotine addiction that led to worsening health conditions
  • Nicotine poisoning
  • Pulmonary disease
  • Respiratory failure
  • Seizures
  • Injuries from exploding e-cigarettes
  • Injuries from e-cigarettes catching fire

How Likely Is a Juul Settlement?

In September 2022, Juul agreed to pay close to $440 million to settle the claims of 33 states that launched an investigation and found the company used marketing tactics to appeal to teens. Then, in December 2022, the e-cigarette giant agreed to settle 10,000 individual lawsuits for an undisclosed amount.

Some legal experts have compared e-cigarette litigation to tobacco litigation. It also has many of the same claims. Like Big Tobacco decades before, Juul lawsuits accuse the company of deceptive marketing of a product they knew would addict and injure people.

In fact, lawsuits claim that Juul referenced thousands of Big Tobacco’s internal documents on marketing strategies, ads and product design when creating and advertising their product. These suits also claim Juul intentionally marketed their products to teens.

Please seek the advice of a medical professional before making health care decisions.