Juul Lawsuit Attorneys in Georgia
Were you or a loved one hurt, or did you develop a dangerous and harmful addiction to nicotine due to the use of a JUUL product? Chris Hudson Law Group‘ personal injury attorneys are currently investigating claims and pursuing litigation against JUUL for deceptive and illegal marketing of their products to consumers, and we’ll be ready to help you get the compensation you deserve.
CNBC reported in July 2018 that Juul’s market share reached 68 percent of e-cigarette sales after its sales increased 882 percent in the most recent four-week period and the e-cigarette category as a whole grew 97 percent to $1.96 billion. In October 2018, JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that Juul’s 3.2 million monthly sales surpassed even the 2.7 million of British American Tobacco.
The New York Reported that Juul co-founders both switched from smoking to vaping, and electronic cigarettes have often been purchased by many people who are trying to find an alternative way to give up the habit of smoking tobacco cigarettes. The increase in the number of people attempting to utilize this method of smoking cessation has also led to an increase in the number of adolescents smoking, and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been conducting investigations into Juul because of possible issues relating to how the product was marketed to teenagers and children.
Did you or your child suffer an injury or illness because of your use of a Juul e-cigarette? You are right to wonder if you may be entitled to compensation but you should not expect Juul to be willing to provide it without considerable challenge.
Make sure you contact Chris Hudson Law Group so you can get the assistance of an experienced personal injury lawyer. Our firm can provide an honest and thorough evaluation of your case when you call (706) 863-6600 or contact us online to set up a free consultation.
Do I Need A Juul Lawsuit Lawyer?
Recovering compensation from Juul can be extremely difficult because the company largely denies any liability for most injuries connected to its products, often claiming that injuries or illnesses cannot be connected to Juul devices. You are going to want to have an attorney for no other reason than to have an independent investigation performed into your case so solid evidence can be gathered and used to get you justice.
Not all Juul cases are necessarily the same, as there may be particular issues relating to a specific device that Juul manufactured. You will want to have a lawyer determine whether you have a product liability claim based on a design or manufacturing defect.
The difference between these two types of cases is that a design defect relates to a fundamental issue with the design of a product that renders it unsafe for all users. A manufacturing defect is a more unique error that only affects one e-cigarette or possibly a batch of e-cigarettes.
Other people may have claims against Juul based on how products were marketed to them and the company’s failure to warn them about some debilitating side effects. You are going to want an attorney’s help in determining the best path forward for you because a lawyer has an ethical obligation to only act in your best interests and place your best interests before their own.
Why Choose Chris Hudson Law Group To Handle My Case?
Christopher Hudson has received the prestigious AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, denoting the highest level of professional excellence. He also received the Cali Award for the highest grade in Advanced Legal Writing and the Cali Award for the highest grade in Law Practice Management while attending Mercer University.
Amanda S. Morris has extensive trial experience as a former Assistant Public Defender for the Augusta Judicial Circuit, where she was active from 2008 until 2017.
You will also want to work with Chris Hudson Law Group because it is not going to cost you anything upfront to do so. We provide legal representation on a contingency fee basis, so you only pay when you get a financial award.
Types of Juul Lawsuit Cases We Handle
According to the United States Fire Administration (USFA), there were reports of 195 separate e-cigarette fire and explosion incidents resulting in 133 acute injuries in the United States from January 2009 to December 31, 2016. Fires and explosions involving electronic cigarettes can lead to many different kinds of injuries, including severe burns and eye injuries that may cause possible disfigurement.
Health conditions associated with e-cigarette use include, but are not limited to:
- Peptic ulcers
- Lung irritation and diseases
- Popcorn lung
- Increased risk of diabetes
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
- Reduced immune response
- Gastrointestinal issues
- Heart attacks
- Increased blood pressure
- Cardiovascular disease
- Developmental and reproductive problems
- Muscular pain
- Eosinophilic pneumonia
- Increased risk of blood clots
- Blood restriction to the brain
- Pneumonia
- Increased risk of stroke
- Enlargement of the aorta
- Altered brain development
- Lung spasms
- Hypersensitivity pneumonitis
- Sleep disturbances
NJ Advanced Media reported on September 12, 2019, that a father filed a class-action lawsuit against Juul after the father purchased Juul products for his son when he was only 14 years of age. Philip Morris and Altria were also named in the lawsuit in which the father and son are the lead plaintiffs alleging that they were both unaware of the adverse health effects, and the now 16-year-old teenager had become addicted to nicotine and was suffering from daily coughing and vomiting.
Four additional young New Jersey residents had also filed federal lawsuits against Juul that same month, and the Cherry Hill Courier-Post reported that three more teenagers in South Jersey had filed separate lawsuits in a Camden federal court against Juul that same day.
There were 12 counts in the father and son’s lawsuit, including failure to warn, fraud, and a violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. A seven-count class-action lawsuit was filed against Juul Labs, Inc., Altria Group Inc., and Philip Morris USA Inc. in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida in April 2019.
The Florida lawsuit claimed Juul became an enterprise subject to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act after the company entered into an agreement with Altria in December 2018 and used the telephone, mail, internet, and interstate commerce to market to children. Other causes of action included fraud, failure to warn, design defect, negligence, unjust enrichment, and a violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, the state law prohibiting numerous unfair or deceptive acts and practices.
USA Today reported that there are over 20 similar lawsuits pending in federal courts throughout the United States. VADM Jerome Adams of the Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service stated in a 2018 advisory that American middle and high school student use of electronic cigarettes had increased 900 percent between 2011 and 2015 before declining, but more than 3.6 million American youth were estimated to be using e-cigarettes in 2018.
Juul Lawsuit Statistics
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reported that only 13.2 percent of teenagers said nicotine was in their e-cigarette, but another 13 percent did not know, 5.8 percent said marijuana, 1.3 percent said something other, and 66 percent said their electronic cigarettes contained “just flavoring.” According to NIDA, 30.7 percent of teenage users of electronic cigarettes started smoking real cigarettes within six months as opposed to only 8.1 percent of non-users.
NIDA also reported that seven in 10 teenagers are exposed to electronic cigarette ads, retail ads are seen by 52.8 percent of middle school students and 56.3 percent of high school students, and internet ads were viewed by 35.8 percent of middle school students and 42.9 percent of high school students. Newspaper and magazine ads were viewed by 25.0 percent of middle school students and 34.6 percent of high school students, and television or movie ads were seen by 34.1 percent of middle school students and 38.4 percent of high school students.
JAMA reported that Juul’s sales increased 641 percent from 2.2 million in 2016 to 16.2 million in 2017. The company’s average annual market share of total e-cigarette sales increased 515 percent, from 2 percent to 13 percent during 2016-2017.
The FDA reported in November 2018 that new findings from the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) showed that more than 3.6 million middle and high school students were current (meaning within the past 30 days) e-cigarette users in 2018, which was more than twice the 1.5 million students the prior year.
The History of E-Cigarettes
While the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association (CASAA) states that the first documented reference to an electronic cigarette (more commonly known nowadays as an e-cigarette or e-cig) was a patent granted to Joseph Robinson in 1930, the product was never commercialized and a prototype may have never even been manufactured.
DentalCare.com, the website from Crest and Oral-B, claims that Herbert A. Gilbert patented what it refers to as the “first smokeless, non-tobacco cigarette device” in 1967, although CASAA claims the patent was received in 1965 and Gilbert said in an interview with the Ashtray Blog that there was “no electric cigarette today, that I have seen, that does not follow the basic road map set forth in my original patent,” but he also claimed that parties he showed his design to could have done put it into production but instead chose to wait for the patent to expire so they could file their own versions.
CASAA describes a “flurry of activity” in the 1990s before the first commercially successful e-cigarette was created in China in 2003 and introduced in Europe and the United States three years later. Juul Labs, Inc. is an electronic cigarette company co-founded by former smokers Adam Bowen and James Monsees, the name of which the New Yorker reported was chosen because it “evoked both a precious stone and the amount of energy required to produce one watt of power for one second.”
Contact a Juul Lawsuit Attorney
If you or your child sustained an injury or illness after using a Juul e-cigarette, it is going to be important for you to quickly retain legal counsel. You want to speak to a lawyer as soon as possible so you can know what options you might have.
The mass tort lawyers at the Chris Hudson Law Group are committed to helping Juul victims nationwide. Call (706) 863-6600 or contact us online right now to take advantage of a free consultation.