MINNEAPOLIS _ Minnesota has become the latest state to sue e-cigarette maker Juul Labs, alleging that its deceptive marketing aimed at teens has wiped out a decade of gains in fighting youth tobacco use.
Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, joined at the Capitol by a dozen Minnesota teens, cast the lawsuit Wednesday as a sequel to the state's landmark $6.5 billion settlement with the tobacco industry 20 years ago.
"You can hire your attorneys, you can have your day in court, but we will bring the righteous justice of the state of Minnesota down on Juul," Walz said.
The lawsuit, filed in Hennepin County, seeks to declare Juul responsible for "creating a public nuisance" in Minnesota and violating the state's consumer protection laws.
Minnesota is also seeking an order permanently barring Juul from marketing to youth and instead force the San Francisco-based company to fund both a "corrective public education campaign" about the dangers of youth vaping and clinical vaping cessation programs in Minnesota.
Ellison said the state would also be seeking monetary relief "for the great harm and injury" Juul caused in Minnesota. Though he did not disclose or estimate a dollar figure, Ellison said he would "not dispute" the possibility that the price tag of the legal action could approach the first major tobacco suit filed by Minnesota in 1994.
State health officials and medical professionals blame the rise of vaping for reversing decadeslong drops in youth tobacco use. The Minnesota Department of Health reported that the year 2017 was the first in nearly 20 years to see an increase in tobacco use among high school students.
Juul, founded in 2015, was valued at $38 billion this year and grew its share of the e-cigarette market from one-quarter of all sales in 2017 to three-quarters this year.
A spokesperson for Juul was not immediately available for comment. In the past year, the company has stopped distributing its fruit and candy flavored Juul pods and shut down its social media accounts in response to a rise in youth vaping.
But Ellison maintained that the company had engaged in a campaign to deceive and mislead Minnesotans of all ages while knowingly profiting off young people.
"Twenty years ago, we led the nation in taking on Big Tobacco," Ellison said. "Now Juul has stepped in to deceive consumers just like Big Tobacco did and has taken it to a whole new level. We're not going to stand by while this company tries to deceive and addict a whole new generation of our youth."
Walz and Minnesota DFL lawmakers also want to ban flavored tobacco products in the state and raise the smoking age from 18 to 21.
