BASD to vote on joining national lawsuit against e-cigarette, tobacco companies
The Butler Area School District could be the latest district to join a national lawsuit against Juul Labs Inc., the California-based maker of Juul e-cigarettes, and tobacco companies for allegedly targeting children with marketing campaigns for their products.
The school board will vote on joining the suit at Monday night's meeting.
The district solicitor, Dillon McCandless King Coulter and Graham, believes the board will approve joining the suit.
“It's on the agenda for tonight. I believe the board will approve joining many districts nationwide in the Juul litigation,” said attorney Tom King.
He said a 2019 survey of district students revealed widespread use of e-cigarettes, and he believes the board will join the suit to seek compensation for disruptions to education, creating an anti-vaping program and possibly buying vapor detectors to detect e-cigarette vapors, which normal smoke detectors cannot.
Defendants in the suit include Altria, a conglomerate that owns tobacco companies Phillip Morris USA and Nu Mark LLC, and Juul.
The suit was initiated by the Frantz Law Group of San Diego, Calif. Frantz will consolidate the cases and file them in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, which handles suits filed from multiple federal districts.
This is a breaking news report — be sure to pick up Tuesday's Butler Eagle to read about the school board's decision to join the lawsuit.
