Altria faces trial as the San Francisco Public School District accuses the company of fuelling a teen vaping epidemic, along with e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc., reports Reuters.

The San Francisco Unified School District says teachers and staff “have had to go to extreme lengths to respond to the ever-growing number of students using e-cigarettes on school grounds,” and wants to force Altria to pay for the cost of combating the problem.
Altria, which held a 35 per cent stake in Juul from 2018 to 2023, faces thousands of similar cases from individuals, local governments and states. The San Francisco school district’s case was selected as a bellwether or test case, by US District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco, who is presiding over much of the litigation.
The trial before Orrick will be the second time one of these cases has gone before a jury. A previous trial, brought by the state of Minnesota, ended in a settlement near its conclusion, but its terms have not yet been announced.
“Most of the allegations raised in this suit occurred years before we made a minority economic investment in Juul,” Altria said in a statement. “We believe this case lacks merit and will defend ourselves vigorously.”
The school district sued both Juul and Altria in 2019, accusing Juul of intentionally targeting consumers under 18 with sweet flavours and flashy social media campaigns, and Altria of assisting the company by providing Juul with its sales staff and integrating Juul advertising into its Marlboro cigarette products.
Juul has since settled the school district’s lawsuit and most similar lawsuits against the company, paying more than USD 1 billion to 48 states and territories and USD 1.7 billion to individuals and local government agencies, the report said.
In March, Altria announced that it had given up its stake in Juul in exchange for some of Juul’s intellectual property. In December, Altria’s stake in Juul was valued at USD 250 million, down from USD 12.8 billion in 2018.