"Harris County settles lawsuit with vaping products company", 1 Nov 2023

Harris County has settled another lawsuit related to accusations that vape companies have used marketing targeted at young Houston-area customers.

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee announced the latest settlement with Altria Group Inc. on Wednesday. Harris County will get $7 million from the company that is an investor in Juul, a separate company that produces vape products.

The settlement comes after a similar one earlier this year with Juul. Harris County received $20 million from the company after accusing it of producing fruit-flavored vape cartridges popular with younger users.

"We're not going to sit back idly while companies come in and try to push harmful products on our kids," Menefee said...

Harris County was the first governmental entity in Texas to file lawsuits against Altria, Juul and Phillip Morris USA in 2021. Since then, others have filed similar lawsuits. Earlier this year, Altria announced resolutions to at least 6,000 JUUL-related state and federal cases for $235 million...

"The goal here is to change corporate behavior," Menefee said. "Corporations should be good partners of the communities in which they have customers, not attempting to get kids hooked on nicotine products."

In 2022, The Food and Drug Administration revoked the company's authorization to produce vape products, although JUUL has appealed the ruling and is still able to sell its product...