Fayette school board settles with e-cigarette company JUUL, but won’t say for how much

The Fayette County Public Schools board has entered into a settlement with JUUL after the board filed a lawsuit against the e-cigarette company in late 2019.

“While we are unable to share details of the settlement, our Fayette County Board of Education will be considering how best to invest the funds to battle the scourge of vaping in our schools,” district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said Wednesday.

The board voted on the settlement at its most recent school board meeting on Feb. 27.

The settlement amount is confidential, Attorney Ron Johnson, of Louisville, told the Herald-Leader this week, “but suffice to say it was to the satisfaction of the Board as they voted to accept it.”

“I am very happy for my school district clients that a settlement was achieved, and in just three years since the litigation began,” Johnson said.

Johnson said 18 other Kentucky school districts filed identical lawsuits against JUUL. All school boards that have met so far this month have voted to accept the settlement, while some have not yet gathered, he said.

“I do not anticipate that any school board will vote to reject the settlement,” Johnson said.

The other school districts are Boone, Breathitt, Bullitt, Clark, Daviess, Estill, Harrison, Hart, Hopkins, Jefferson, Jessamine, Larue, Madison, Marion, Martin, Montgomery, Warren and Wolfe, he said.

The e-cigarette companies caused a youth vaping “epidemic” leading to addiction and health issues for Lexington students, Fayette school district officials have alleged.

Although the Fayette school district did not keep data separately for e-cigarettes, disciplinary incidents involving all tobacco rose by 310% from 2015 to 2018, district officials told the Herald-Leader in 2018.

Johnson said Altria is the second defendant in the case. They are a big tobacco company, he said, formerly called Philip Morris.

“They owned a significant stake in Juul so they were complicit in the marketing to children. The litigation against that defendant is still on,” he said.

In December 2022, Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced that Kentucky would see $14 million from settlements with JUUL.

The agreement marked the end of talks between 34 state attorneys general and JUUL, and follows a two-year investigation by the group of states that found the company illegally and knowingly advertised its products to minors.