Wake schools reaches $6.2M settlement with JUUL over teen vaping

The Wake County Board of Education has approved a $6.2 million settlement with e-cigarette maker JUUL Labs, the board announced Tuesday.

The school board will use the money to combat teen vaping and nicotine use and provide educational resources to help students make "responsible" choices.

"Nicotine use is a serious health threat – and students are most at risk," WCPSS Superintendent Catty Moore said in a news release from the school system. "This settlement will support efforts to teach students about the importance of caring for their health and making responsible choices."

In December, JUUL settled 5,000 lawsuits. That month, attorneys for the Wake County school board said the company had agreed to settle the lawsuit with the school system, as a part of a class-action case among dozens of school boards. The settlement was still in the works at the time.

The school board voted to sue JUUL in July 2021 and was the first school board in North Carolina to do so. That was shortly after the company agreed to pay the state $40 million and stop marketing to teens, as a part of a settlement with Attorney General Josh Stein.

At the time, school board members noted complaints from parents about children vaping in schools. Soon after, several more school boards in North Carolina also decided to sue, and dozens across the country eventually sued.

School board members have expressed frustration, even recently, with students vaping.

Board Member Cheryl Caulfield said Tuesday night she had asked towns in her eastern Wake County board district to pursue policies that would prevent stores that sell e-cigarettes and vaping cartridges from being located close to schools. She said mayors have so far supported her request.

JUUL started in 2015, marketing an e-cigarette with high nicotine levels to children, including by advertising on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, as teen use of e-cigarettes rose, according to a presentation submitted to the board by their attorneys in the case in 2021.

One cartridge of JUUL contains far higher amounts of nicotine than a cigarette. Nicotine is the addictive substance in cigarettes. The U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention contends nicotine can harm adolescent brain development.

The legal retainer agreement approved by the school board in July 2021 stipulates the Wake County Public School System would not pay anything out of pocket for the lawsuit; rather, the district would pay a 25%“contingency fee” of any settlement or monetary damages awarded as a result of the lawsuit.

So the board would not be out money if the lawsuit is unsuccessful.

The district retained Ward Black Law in Greensboro, as well as law firms across other nearby states.