New York State AG Sues Major Vape Distributors

President Trump promised before the 2024 election that he would, if elected, “save flavored vaping,” and while that may eventually happen—at the federal level anyway—vape consumers and businesses are certainly facing more challenges at the state level than ever before.

In some states, vape retailers and distributors face lawsuits and other legal threats from their state attorneys general (AGs), and many Democratic legislators remain obsessed with banning flavored vapes—the preferred “solution” to youth vaping promoted by Democratic Party allies in tobacco control and public health.

In Republican-led states, lawmakers beholden to rich tobacco companies have adopted the strategy of PMTA registry (or directory) laws intended to block sales of products that compete with vapes (and cigarettes) sold by Big Tobacco. In many cases, the laws are created by tobacco industry lobbyists.

For small e-liquid manufacturers, importers of popular disposable vapes, Chinese vape device manufacturers, and consumers of all these products, it probably doesn’t matter whether the threat comes from friends of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids or recipients of campaign donations from tobacco companies like Altria Group and R.J. Reynolds. In both cases, the laws are intended to restrict vaping product choice and access.

Today we’re looking at recent actions by state attorneys general. Next week, we’ll focus on proposed flavor bans and PMTA registry bills currently active in state legislatures.

New York AG plays whack-a-mole with disposable vapes

Yesterday, New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit alleging that 13 vape manufacturers, distributors and retailers illegally distribute, market and sell flavored vapes in New York state, which banned the sale of flavored vaping products in 2020.

According to a press release from James’ office, the companies and individuals named in the lawsuit “market highly addictive, candy- and fruit-flavored nicotine products to underage consumers, mislead customers about the safety and legality of their products, illegally ship products to New York, and violate health regulations designed to curb youth vaping.”

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and damages. Defendants include major vape distributors Demand Vape, Midwest Goods and Mi-Pod.

James charges that flavored disposable vapes sold by the defendants are responsible for “fueling the youth vaping epidemic”—despite the fact that youth vaping peaked in 2019, before disposable vapes became widely available. According to the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey, middle and high school vaping has fallen by more than 70 percent since 2019.

"The vaping industry is taking a page out of Big Tobacco's playbook: they're making nicotine seem cool, getting kids hooked, and creating a massive public health crisis in the process," said James.

Last month, James and the New York State Department of Health filed a lawsuit in an attempt to shut down a single vape shop in New York State's rural Herkimer County. 

State attorneys keep the “youth vaping epidemic” in the news

This week’s New York lawsuit is the latest salvo in a coordinated effort by (mostly) Democratic AGs to keep youth vaping in the news, which improves the chances of passing more laws restricting vapes. They also intend to generate income (and headlines) by imposing fines or reaching settlements with vape industry scofflaws. Of course, those aren’t their stated purposes.

In January, AGs in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio (the lone Republican AG in the group), Vermont, and Washington D.C., announced the creation of “a coordinated, multi-state enforcement initiative to address the unlawful sales of flavored e-cigarettes, vape pens, and accessories.”

Since January 15, officials in most of those states have engaged in enforcement actions of some sort: 

• California AG Rob Bonta filed lawsuits against businesses associated with disposable vape brand FLUM
• Connecticut AG William Tong “served civil investigative demands” to a handful of retailers and distributors of disposable vapes
• Hawaii’s AG office sent a bizarre warning to retailers that reads like a ZYN promotion
• Illinois AG Kwame Raoul took legal action against sellers of the Posh disposable brand and distributor Midwest Goods
• Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit against various entities connected to High Light vapes, the infamous disposable vape that looks like a highlighter pen (and may or may not actually exist)
• New Jersey sent 11,000 warning letters to state retailers “reminding them that selling flavored vapor products is unlawful and directing them to cease any such sales immediately”

Of course, squeezing vape businesses for headlines and profit isn’t exclusive to Democratic politicians (and, yes, AGs are certainly politicians). Nearly every state, including those with Republican AGs, sued and accepted a settlement with Juul Labs. But it is Democratic state attorneys general that view the vape industry as a target-rich environment they can exploit again and again.