Altria subsidiary NJOY wins lawsuit, four retailers ordered to ban sale of ELFBAR e-cigarettes
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Altria subsidiary NJOY wins lawsuit, four retailers ordered to ban sale of ELFBAR e-cigarettes
A federal judge in California issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting four retailers from selling ELFBAR e-cigarette products. NJOY, a subsidiary of Altria Group, claimed that its sales were affected and won the lawsuit.
According to Law360 on December 23, NJOY LLC., a subsidiary of Altria Group, won a lawsuit against the e-cigarette brand ELFBAR.
Cynthia Bashant, a federal judge in California, issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting four California physical retailers from selling any ELFBAR products.
Judge Bashant said the ban complied with the public interest because it would "uphold the law." The state enacted a law banning flavored tobacco products in 2020.
Retailers had asked the judge not to issue the ban, claiming that ELFBAR was just one of many flavored e-cigarettes. They believed that consumers would switch to brands such as Hyde, Esco Bar, Puff Bar and Hyppe before trying NJOY's tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes.
ELFBAR's brand owners, iMiracle (HK) Ltd. and Shenzhen Imiracle Technology Co Ltd., said it was unrealistic to assume that flavored e-cigarette users would switch to NJOY's products, just as grape juice lovers would switch to kale juice after their favorite brand was removed from shelves.
Judge Basant called this "unconvincing." She found NJOY had provided enough evidence to prove that NJOY's sales were hurt by ELFBAR's availability in vape shops. NJOY's lawsuit claims that iMiracle and retailers illegally sold flavored e-cigarettes that were not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), violating California's ban on flavored tobacco products.
NJOY said it was put at a "competitive disadvantage" because consumers chose to buy ELFBAR products instead of NJOY's legal tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes. NJOY claims it is the only FDA-authorized e-cigarette device manufacturer, and its NJOY ACE device received FDA premarket authorization in July.
The current lawsuit is at least the second NJOY has filed in federal court in California. The lawsuit filed in October 2023 has been withdrawn by the company.
The previous lawsuit was more ambitious, with NJOY attempting to impose a nationwide ban on a number of popular flavored e-cigarette brands, while the current lawsuit only imposes a ban on ELFBAR's sales in California.
The four California retailers ordered to ban the sale of ELFBAR e-cigarettes are Aroma Avenue Vape Shop, Cigarettes N More, Cloudhaven Vapors, Inc., and Z Vapor Room.
