JUUL Lawsuit Filed Over Risk of Acute Respiratory Problems, Heart Disease, Other Lung Risks

According to allegations raised in a lawsuit filed against JUUL Labs, the popular electronic cigarettes may cause a number of serious health problems and a risk of vaping addiction, which consumers have not been adequately warned about.

The complaint (PDF) was filed last month by Timothy Malaney and Brendan Gorman in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, JUUL Labs, Inc. and Pax Labs, Inc. as defendants. JUUL is a spinoff of Pax Labs, which invented the JUUL vaping pods.

The JUUL lawsuit has been removed to the federal court system, seeking class action status to obtain medical monitoring and financial compensation for all JUUL users.

Malaney and Gorman, both young adults, indicate they began vaping with JUUL devices in an effort to stop smoking traditional cigarettes. Instead, both say they found themselves addicted to JUUL products. In addition, the lawsuit alleges that the devices have been found to cause pulmonary, cardiovascular, neurological and behavioral issues, which consumers were never warned about.

The lawsuit indicates that due to cellular and tissue injury caused by JUUL vaping pods, users may suffer acute and chronic pulmonary injury, resulting in long-term restrictive airway disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and an increased risk of heart disease.

“The simple yet almost unfathomable reality is that, until recently, very little was known about the detrimental health effects that JUUL e-cigarettes and pods cause to the lungs and bodies of it users, which includes teens, young adults, and older adults,” the lawsuit states. “Modern science has thus been playing catch-up with the effects of e-cigarettes o humans. Since the science has developed, we have found that JUUL is a wolf -in -sheep’s clothing delivering as much or more nicotine and harmful chemicals as bigger, more conspicuous e-cigarettes. What has been marketed and sold as a fun, harmless, and trendy pastime is anything but that.”

Although e-cigarettes are only approved for use among adults, critics and federal regulators say manufacturers have heavily marketed the devices to teens and young adults, featuring candy-like flavors and designs that allow them to be easily hidden from parents and teachers.

JUUL pods account for two-thirds of the U.S. e-cigarette market, which has skyrocketed in recent years. They are small devices that resemble a traditional USB flash drive, but contain nicotine e-liquid and are used to vape. However, each JUUL pod can have as much nicotine as two packs of traditional cigarettes.

The case is one of a growing number of JUUL vape lawsuits being reviewed by lawyers nationwide, involving teens, young adults and non-smokers who developed respiratory problems and other health complications following use of the vaping pods.