Juul Says Product Use Has Fallen 95%, Pays More Than $1 Billion to 47 States

Today’s news, April 13: According to foreign media reports, JUUL Labs Inc. has agreed to pay $462 million to settle allegations from six U.S. states, including New York and California, that it illegally marketed and sold its products to minors.

Juul later released a statement. The full text is as follows:

The settlement with seven state attorneys general represents another critical part of our ongoing commitment to resolve the company’s legacy issues. The terms of this agreement, like our previous settlements, provide financial resources to further combat underage use and develop cessation programs, and reflect our current business practices, which were implemented as part of a company-wide restructuring in the fall of 2019. Since then, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey, youth use of JUUL products has fallen by 95%.  

With this settlement, we are nearing a complete resolution of the company’s historical legal challenges and securing greater certainty for our future. We have now reached settlements with 47 states and territories, providing more than $1 billion to participating states. This is in addition to our global resolution of U.S. private litigation, which covered more than 5,000 cases brought by approximately 10,000 plaintiffs.

We can now focus more fully on our path forward, maximizing the value and impact of our product technology and scientific foundation. Our technology has already helped more than 2 million adult smokers move away from combustible cigarettes. Our top priority remains securing authorization for a science-based PMTA and leading the category through innovation to accelerate our mission and advance tobacco harm reduction for more than 31 million adult smokers in the United States and more than 1 billion adult smokers worldwide.