A student at the University of Oregon has filed a class action lawsuit against two vaping companies, stating they failed to disclose the risks associated with nicotine in their products.
The student, Kewmarse Imani, is suing Juul and Altria Group, a company which owns 35% of Juul’s stock.
In the lawsuit, Imani said he began using Juul in 2018 and was not warned by the company or anyone else that Juul products are addictive and can cause injury.
The lawsuit states Imani is now addicted to nicotine and that he had a seizure from using the products. He said if he was aware of the dangers of Juul he would not have tried the product.
The lawsuit states Juul failed to inform consumers in many early advertisements that its products contain any nicotine at all, and that the company still fails to disclose that its e-cigarettes contain chemicals which can cause seizures and other injuries.
“JUUL has known since it first put its electronic cigarettes on the market that its electronic cigarettes contain nicotine, that nicotine is an addictive substance, and that nicotine can cause injuries in addition to addiction,” the lawsuit states. “But JUUL, in many of its advertisements, failed to inform consumers that its products contain any nicotine at all, much less inform consumers that its electronic cigarettes have significantly more nicotine than competitors’ electronic cigarettes.”
The lawsuit claims Juul has been negligent in marketing its products to minors and failing to warn consumers of the concentration of nicotine in its e-cigarettes, among other offenses. Imani is requesting a jury trial.