The New York Times reports on its front page, “Juul Labs has agreed to pay North Carolina $40 million to settle the first of a spate of lawsuits brought by states and localities claiming the e-cigarette company’s marketing practices fueled widespread addiction to nicotine among young people and created a new public health problem.” The settlement also requires the company “to sell its products from behind the counter in North Carolina stores, and to use third-party age verification systems for online sales.” Juul must also send “young ‘mystery shoppers’ to 1,000 stores each year, to check whether they are selling to minors.” Additionally, the settlement “bans the company from using models younger than 35 in advertisements and states that no advertisements should be posted near schools.”

The Washington Post reports the state “will use the [settlement] money to fund programs to help young people quit e-cigarettes and to underwrite research on e-cigarettes.” Meanwhile, “Juul and other e-cigarette companies are awaiting word from the Food and Drug Administration about whether their products can remain on the market.” A decision is expected by early September.

CNN reports, “The settlement follows a lawsuit filed in 2019 by North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein that claimed Juul marketed its products to children and misled the public about risks associated with those products.”

On its front page, the Wall Street Journal reports the lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial in July, which is just one of the hundreds of cases brought against Juul by school districts, state officials, and young individuals.

From the news release of the American Association for Justice.