Renne, Cotchett firms sue Juul for Bay Area schools

Five San Francisco Bay Area school districts, along with the San Mateo County Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools Nancy Magee, filed federal lawsuits alleging Juul Labs Inc. is engaged in a conspiracy to hook schoolchildren on nicotine and deceive them about the health risks of the company's products.

The complaints, filed in the Northern District of California on Monday and Tuesday, accuse Juul of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act as part of a conspiracy with marketing groups and so-called social influencers, public nuisance, negligence, gross negligence, willful misconduct, two counts of strict liability, and unjust enrichment.

Juul already faces a class action in the Northern District before Judge William H. Orrick, alleging the company falsely advertises its products.

"Big tobacco tried to hook our kids on cigarettes years ago, and now they're at it again," said Louise H. Renne of the Renne Public Law Group LLP, who filed complaints on behalf of the San Francisco Unified School District and the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District as well as several San Mateo County school districts.

"Juul's focused efforts to create a generation of vaping addicts with marketing that targets children is unacceptable," Renne said in a statement. San Francisco Unified School District v. Juul Labs Inc. et al., 19-CV08177 (N.D. Cal., filed Dec. 16, 2019).

Joseph W. Cotchett Jr., a partner with Burlingame-based Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, is working with Renne on several of the lawsuits, including one by the San Mateo County Board of Education filed Tuesday.

A Juul spokesperson denied the company targets juveniles. "Our customer base is the world's 1 billion adult smokers and we do not intend to attract underage users," the company spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. "To the extent these cases allege otherwise, they are without merit."

Anne Marie Murphy, a partner with Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, said Juul's denial is false. "We allege they are targeting youth," she said in a Tuesday interview, accusing Juul of updating the tobacco companies' playbook by using social media. San Mateo County Board of Education et al. v Juul Labs Inc., 19-CV8210 (N.D. Cal., filed Dec. 17, 2019).

The number of San Mateo County youths who vape nearly doubled from 2017 to 2018, to more than 20%, Murphy said.