Indiana’s Kokomo Schools to Receive $90K Settlement from Juul Deceptive Marketing Suit
After joining a national class action lawsuit against vaping giant Juul, Indiana’s Kokomo School Corporation is set to receive $90,475 in settlement funds. The final amount will be less after attorneys fees are calculated.
Kokomo School Corporation became the second Howard County School district to join the national lawsuit that was filed against the e-cigarette company in April 2022. Hundreds of other school districts also joined in on the lawsuit, resulting in thousands of plaintiffs going after the e-cigarette company.
At the heart of the class action lawsuit were allegations that the e-cigarette company used deceptive marketing tactics to target teens and young adults. As part of the marketing tactic, JUUL advertised that its product was offered in fruity flavors including mango and other fruits. Ad material often consisted of colorful backdrops and juvenile graphics that drew in younger audiences.
The lawsuit highlights that as the company grew in popularity across the nation in 2015, so too did the use of underage vaping. The Food and Drug Administration eventually went on to declare a national epidemic regarding youth vaping. Although JUUL’s products still contain nicotine, they were touted as a safer alternative to cigarettes. For many teens and young adults, the messaging indicated that using the products would be a safer alternative than traditional cigarettes. Much like cigarettes, however, vaping cartridges still contain high levels of nicotine that proved to be harmful to the developing brains of young adults and minors. Research into vaping would later go on to show that breathing in high levels of the chemicals found in vaping cartridges was often linked with harmful and sometimes irreversible lung damage.
The announcement of an epidemic by the FDA put pressure on e-cigarette companies including Juul, Vuse, MarkTen XL, Blu, and Logic, urging them to create a more “robust plan” for preventing youth vaping.
In joining the complaint, Kokomo School Superintendent Mike Sargent said in a statement that school district officials “feel obligated to challenge any company and/or organization which intentionally targets student-aged youth to engage in unhealthy practices, such as vaping.”
Like many other school districts throughout the nation, Kokomo schools battled a growing trend of students vaping during school hours as the popularity of e-cigarette products exploded. According to a 2017 National Youth Tobacco Survey, an estimated 2 million middle school, high school, and college students were using e-cigarette devices. Roughly 12% of high school students and 3% of middle school students reported that they used the devices at least once in the past 30 days of taking the survey.
Indiana is one of 33 states that took legal action against the e-cigarette company. Indiana is set to receive roughly $15.7 million of that judgment paid out over the next decade. In total, the company has reached settlements covering over 5,000 cases and 10,000 plaintiffs, with an estimated $1.2 to $1.7 billion being paid out in settlement funds. The lawsuit was originally filed by San Francisco School District, and the California school district stands to gain the most money.
Following news of the settlement, Kokomo Schools Superintendent Mike Sargent shared, “We did not anticipate any financial benefit from this,” adding, “We joined this lawsuit as a statement against the (marketing) strategies, not in the hopes of receiving some type of settlement.”
The school district is set to receive payment in two installments, with the first beginning in the fall. The district’s superintendent has shared that they plan to put the funds toward the Kokomo Public School Education Foundation. The foundation holds funds designed to help support teachers via grants, educational grants designed for student groups, and other teacher projects.
