JUUL Vaping Injury Lawsuit​
Many individuals switched to JUUL e-cigarettes believing the marketing that they were safe or that they contained less nicotine when in reality they could contain more nicotine than cigarettes and were just as if not more addicting.
Why File a JUUL Lawsuit?
JUUL e-cigarettes are currently marketed to adults who are looking to switch to e-cigarettes from smoking regular cigarettes. However, that wasn’t always the case. Since the product’s release in 2015, its early marketing featured young models and made the e-cigarettes seem cool to teenagers.
JUUL also has claimed that its e-cigarettes are safe, leading many to switch as they tried to quit smoking. Instead, they found themselves even more addicted because of the higher levels of nicotine. E-cigarettes don’t have tobacco in them, but they contain other chemicals that make them potentially just as dangerous as regular cigarettes.
If you or a loved one has been affected by JUUL’s deceptive marketing techniques and began vaping as a result, don’t hesitate to contact us. Let us fight the manufacturer for you and get you the justice you deserve and the compensation you need.
What Is a JUUL Vaping Device?
JUUL is a type of electronic cigarette, or e-cigarette, which can also be called a vape pen or vaping device. Like all e-cigarettes, it’s a vaporizer that is powered by batteries and is designed to simulate smoking, from the vapor that looks like smoke to the motion of bringing the e-cigarette to the mouth. Because the device is a vaporizer, the act of using one is known as vaping, while people who use them are called vapers. Instead of inhaling smoke, vapers instead inhale an aerosol that is called vapor.
The e-cigarette itself is reusable and uses replaceable cartridges, which, for JUUL devices, are called JUUL pods. One JUUL pod is good for about 200 puffs of the e-cigarette. Unlike some e-cigarettes, the JUUL vaping device is not designed to look like a regular cigarette. Instead, it looks like a USB flash drive. It uses a magnetic USB dock to recharge.
Despite being marketed as an alternative to cigarettes, e-cigarettes do contain nicotine and are still highly addictive.
How Is JUUL Different from Other E-Cigarettes?
JUUL vaping devices use nicotine from leaf-based tobacco nicotine salts. This is so that the JUUL e-cigarette can simulate a smoking experience much closer to actual smoking than other e-cigarettes can. JUUL attempts to mimic regular cigarettes in that its delivery of the nicotine peaks at five minutes. Each JUUL pod contains the same amount of nicotine as an entire pack of regular cigarettes.
JUUL is currently the most popular vape pen in the e-cigarette market. In 2018, it held 72% of the market share. Each of JUUL’s competitors holds less than a ten percent share of the market, none able to come anywhere close to matching JUUL’s popularity and success.
What Are JUUL Vaping Devices Made From?
There are two parts to a JUUL vaping device. The e-cigarette, or vape pen, itself contains a battery, a charge sensor, and a temperature regulator. The battery can be charged with a magnetic USB dock.
The pods are what contain JUUL’s e-liquid, which is a mixture of nicotine salts, benzoic acid, glycerol, propylene glycol, and flavoring ingredients.
The glycerol is what adds moisture to the mixture and is considered to be generally safe by the FDA. Propylene glycol and benzoic acid are both food additives that are approved for use in consumption, although benzoic acid can be a health hazard if consumed in large quantities. JUUL doesn’t specify exactly what ingredients are used in its flavorings.
Unlike other e-cigarettes, the JUUL vaping device uses nicotine salts instead of freebase nicotine. This is for several reasons, including that it supposedly is more like actual cigarettes when users inhale it and that the freebase nicotine used by other e-cigarette brands is harsher on the throat.
Who Is JUUL Labs, Inc.?
JUUL Labs is the company that created the JUUL e-cigarette. The company was originally a part of Pax Labs, which was founded in 2007 but spun off into a separate company in 2017, two years after the launch of the JUUL vaping device. It sells exclusively the JUUL e-cigarette and offers different models and flavors. The company seeks to provide a smoking alternative for adults who want to move away from smoking traditional cigarettes and was founded by former smokers.
Who Uses the JUUL Vaping Devices?
JUUL claims that its vape pen is designed with adult smokers in mind. Currently, all of its marketing on its website is geared towards adult smokers and specifies adults. However, that was not always the case. The JUUL vaping device is very popular with teenagers and the company has received criticisms for marketing to teenagers.
Its early marketing campaigns weren’t specifically aimed at teenagers, according to a former senior manager, but the company knew that the device could easily appeal to them. It used young models, even though all were over the age of 21, and its marketing made the device sound cool.
Criticisms of JUUL’s Marketing
Because of JUUL’s popularity with teenagers, John Schachter of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids critiqued JUUL’s marketing. Although JUUL claimed it wasn’t targeting teenagers, Schachter noted that its ads all used younger models and when combined with the USB-like design of the device, appealing flavors, and JUUL’s focus on social media marketing, these factors could all appeal to teenagers.
The FDA was also concerned about the JUUL’s popularity with teenagers, resulting in an undercover investigation of retailers that sold JUUL’s devices. The FDA has already issued warning letters to 40 different retailers that it found violating the law and selling devices to people under the age of 21. In addition, the FDA investigated JUUL itself, demanding that the company hand over all of its marketing documents as well as research for its products and any reports from focus groups. The goal was to determine whether or not JUUL had deliberately targeted teenagers.
The Dangers of Vaping
Nicotine is addictive. No matter how it’s ingested, whether in regular cigarettes or e-cigarettes like JUUL, there is no escaping its addictive qualities. JUUL is too new for there to be studies analyzing whether or not it is more addictive than regular cigarettes, however.
Vaping is considered safer than smoking, but because JUUL and other e-cigarettes contain nicotine and other chemicals that are known carcinogens, they are still not safe or healthy. E-cigarettes, including JUUL, are recommended only to adults who are already smokers and who are trying to quit smoking.
Cancer-Causing Substances
One of the major dangers of vaping is that because e-cigarettes don’t contain actual tobacco, which is known to be a carcinogen, or a cancer-causing substance, many people believe that they are safer and healthier than cigarettes. However, e-cigarettes still contain other chemicals that can be harmful, including chemicals that are known to be carcinogens themselves. The absence of tobacco from e-cigarettes doesn’t necessarily make them safer.
A study was done on JUUL and other e-cigarettes and compared them to traditional cigarettes, looking specifically at benzene, which is also known to be a carcinogen. The study did find that smokers of regular cigarettes were at a higher risk of exposure to benzene than vapers. However, that didn’t mean that the e-cigarettes were safe. There was a smaller amount of benzene, but it wasn’t an insignificant amount. Vapers were still at risk.
Nicotine
All e-cigarettes contain nicotine and JUUL’s vape pen is no exception. Nicotine is both addictive and unsafe, especially for children and teens because it harms their brains, which are still developing. Exposure to nicotine in teens and children can cause learning and attention difficulties. Studies have also shown that there is a link between e-cigarette use at a young age and tobacco use later on. Even in adults, nicotine is highly addictive and can be toxic.
WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF NICOTINE ADDICTION?
Anyone who is addicted to nicotine will experience withdrawal symptoms if they stop using it. These symptoms include:
- Moodiness
- Cravings
- Irritability
- Difficulty focusing or paying attention
- Anxiety
- Depression
- A feeling of emptiness
Nicotine is one of the hardest substances in the world to quit using, according to the American Heart Association.
WHAT ARE THE SIDE-EFFECTS OF NICOTINE?
Nicotine consumption has a wide range of possible side-effects on a variety of different organs throughout the body. These effects include:
- Brain:
- Nightmares and bad dreams
- Dizziness
- Lightheadedness
- Poor sleep
- Blood circulation:
- Increased clotting
- Leads to harmful blood clots
- Atherosclerosis
- Plaque builds on artery walls
- Enlarged aorta
- Increased clotting
- Heart:
- Increased stroke risk
- Heart rate and rhythm changes
- Increased blood pressure
- Coronary heart disease
- Stomach:
- Vomiting
- Nausea
- Dry mouth
- Heartburn
- Diarrhea
- Ulcers
- Indigestion
- In pregnant women, nicotine can have the following effects in children:
- Brain development problems
- Obesity
- High blood pressure
- Type 2 diabetes
- Behavioral problems
- Infertility
- Difficulties with respiration
- Other risks:
- Seizures
- Joint pain
- Muscle pain and tremors
- Lung spasms
- Increased risk of diabetes
- Pneumonia
Dental Damage
Dentists are noticing significant tooth decay in their patients who vape. Vaping can cause rampant tooth decay because of the e-liquid from e-cigarettes. It allows bacteria that causes cavities to stick to teeth, resulting in a higher rate of cavities among vapers than non-vapers. In addition, nicotine can lead to gum disease and the loss of teeth.
FDA & CDC Investigations
The FDA’s investigation into JUUL’s marketing isn’t the only investigation. The FDA also recently called out JUUL for claiming that its e-cigarettes were completely safe. These claims were apparently made to high school students, which also undermined JUUL’s claim that it does not market to teenagers and led to further concerns about JUUL’s role in the vaping epidemic among underage users.
Is Juul Actually Safer?
The FDA is concerned about JUUL marketing itself as safer than other tobacco products. While it’s e-cigarettes may carry different risks than regular cigarettes, JUUL was apparently marketing their e-cigarette as safer without FDA approval or providing scientific evidence proving those claims to the FDA.
Vaping Devices & Seizures
The FDA is currently investigating the possibility of a link between e-cigarettes and seizures. They have received 127 reports of seizures and other neurological issues, but so far the FDA does not have enough information to definitively determine that e-cigarettes are the cause. However, the FDA believes it is likely, due to seizures being one of the side-effects of nicotine poisoning, which is a risk of e-cigarettes since some have been found to have more nicotine than stated on the packaging. JUUL in particular claims that its e-cigarettes can deliver nicotine faster than other e-cigarettes.
Vaping Devices & Lung Disease
The CDC, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is also investigating e-cigarette use. They have reviewed hundreds of reports of lung disease potentially caused by vaping. There have been hundreds of cases across most US states and now as of February 2020, there have been sixty-eight deaths linked to lung disease from vaping.
Lawsuits Against JUUL
JUUL is currently the defendant in 56 lawsuits across the country and the plaintiff in cases against 30 different Chinese companies for manufacturing fake JUUL pods.
Fake JUUL Pods Lawsuits
In an attempt to allay concerns about its products being targeted to children and teens, JUUL pulled its fruit-flavored pods from the shelves because those flavors were thought to be most tempting to younger vapers. Many third-party companies began to make their own pods that were compatible with JUUL’s e-cigarette. While some labeled them with their own brand, others made them look exactly like JUUL’s pods and marketed them as such.
The fake pods pose a risk for JUUL because vapers can’t always tell whether what they are vaping is a real or fake JUUL product. On top of that, in addition to the normal health risks associated with vaping, they don’t know what goes into these pods and what consumers may be inhaling. Raids on factories in China that produce these fake pods have uncovered dirty conditions, which could pose even more health risks for vapers. JUUL has sued 30 different companies in China that have been manufacturing these fake JUUL pods.
Nicotine Addiction Lawsuits
Several lawsuits have been filed in California by consumers who allege that JUUL’s marketing practices had led them to believe the product was safe. Bradley Colgate and Kaytlin McKnight claim that in reality, JUUL vaping devices actually contain more nicotine than regular cigarettes, leading them to become addicted to the nicotine salts within the e-cigarettes. The plaintiffs say that they now vape several JUUL pods per week.
Another plaintiff, Carl Cooper, says that he used to be a habitual smoker, smoking only on weekends, before he switched to JUUL e-cigarettes to try to quit smoking. However, using JUUL had the opposite effect, quickly getting him even more addicted to nicotine and turning him into a regular vaper.
A lawsuit in Washington, D.C. was filed by the mother of a vaper, who was identified by the initials D.P. She claimed that her son had become severely addicted to nicotine because of vaping and said that JUUL e-cigarettes contain more nicotine than is actually necessary even to satisfy the nicotine cravings of an adult vaper.
A lawsuit filed in Denham Springs focuses on JUUL’s marketing that was geared towards a younger audience and claims that the plaintiff’s son began vaping after being exposed to JUUL’s youth-focused marketing and misleading advertising.
While so far the lawsuits have been single suits, the momentum for class-action lawsuits in beginning to build. The current lawsuits, which have all been filed since the beginning of 2019, are just the beginning.
Should I Consider a JUUL Vaping Device Lawsuit?
Have you switched from smoking to vaping with a JUUL e-cigarette only to become even more addicted to nicotine? Did you begin vaping, believing that JUUL was safe to use? Were you under the age of 18 at the time or was a member of your family under the age of 18 affected? If you were deceived into using JUUL e-cigarettes by deceptive advertising, especially at a young age, you may have a case against JUUL Labs.
Contact Farah & Farah now for a free consultation. Speak with one of our highly experienced attorneys about the eligibility of your case and you’ll pay nothing unless your case is successful. Let us fight for the compensation and justice that you deserve.
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