Minnesota gets $60.5M in settlement with e-cigarette maker Juul, tobacco giant Altria

By STEVE KARNOWSKI
Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota says it settled its lawsuit against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs and tobacco giant Altria for $60.5 million. Attorney General Keith Ellison said Wednesday that it works out to two to four times more per-capita than any other state that sued Juul over youth vaping and marketing practices. The state’s lawsuit is the first and still the only case to reach trial of the thousands of cases nationwide against the e-cigarette maker. It settled just ahead of closing arguments last month, but the terms were confidential until the formal papers were filed with the court. Ellison says Minnesota got the big settlement precisely because the state took Juul to trial.