Seattle Public Schools files lawsuit against vaping company Juul

Seattle Public Schools is suing Juul, alleging the vaping company has targeted teenagers.

“There is no doubt that vaping is reaching epidemic proportions among teenagers, and we can’t just sit by while our students suffer the effects of being targeted by Juul,” said Superintendent Denise Juneau.

Vaping, like smoking, is not allowed on Seattle school campuses. But the district argues that the vaping company has targeted teenagers through its marketing. It points to the "DoIt4Juul" hashtag as one example of a "youth-oriented social media campaign." The lawsuit states that this type of marketing has contributed to an increase in youth vaping. The district says that there was a 250% increase in the number of 10th graders who admitted to vaping between 2016 and 2018. It also notes that there has been an increase in vaping among students between 6th and 12th grades across the state.

"Their marketing practices target young people and it’s enough of an issue in Seattle Public Schools that we’ve had an increase over the last few years, quite dramatic, of students vaping," said SPS spokesperson Tim Robinson, further referring to Juul's marketing as "predatory practices."

“One of the big public health success stories over the past decade has been a reduction of youth tobacco use and nicotine addiction," he said. "That has been the result of years of litigation and strict regulation. But then companies moved in through this vacuum that was formed and started e-cigarettes and vaping products, and that’s when you see this huge increase (in youth vaping) – 78% among high school students nationwide between 2017 and 2018.”

The lawsuit seeks damages from Juul that will, in turn, fund addiction prevention, education, and treatment. No dollar amount has yet been tied to those damages. It also asks the court to order Juul to stop all youth marketing.

The lawsuit comes as a mysterious vaping illness has moved through the country. There have been at least 12 cases of the illness in Washington state. While the ages of many of the patients range from the 20s to 50s, four of the patients in Washington have been teenagers.

A Spanaway family also recently alleged their son died from vaping-related causes.

Washington's health board hasbanned flavored vaping productsfor the time being. Tribal shops are not included in the ban.

The school district filed the lawsuit Thursday in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, though officials expect it will be consolidated into the multi-district case underway in San Francisco. Seattle schools have hired the law firm Keller Rohrback, which is also representing other public entities -- such as King County -- that are currently suing Juul.

Robinson could not speculate about how long it will take for the lawsuit to play out, but he did note that the cases against tobacco "did drag on for a long time" and that "we are at the leading edge, right now."

The school district is not only suing Juul Labs, Inc., but also Altria Group, Inc. which owns 35 percent of the vaping company. Altria Group also owns tobacco company Philip Morris.