The Southampton School District has accepted a settlement offer from e-cigarette manufacturer Juul nearly four years after joining a national class action lawsuit against the vaping giant.
Altria, which was at one time Juul’s largest investors, offered the district an $8,599 settlement, which the Board of Education approved during a meeting on Tuesday night, October 3. The funds will be invested in substance abuse prevention for intermediate and high school students, according to Superintendent of Schools Nicholas Dyno.
“It’s good news,” he said. “It’s a student-led initiative that ended up where we’ll be able to do something important.”
As per the settlement agreement, $168.25 million will be distributed among nearly 1,600 plaintiffs, which include school districts, regional education offices, counties and cities. Proceeds are intended to be used to “address the problem of youth vaping and nicotine addiction,” according to the document.
In the interim, the settlement will be deposited into the district’s general fund until a course of action is decided, explained Assistant Superintendent for Business Jean Mingot. There is no requirement for by when it needs to be used, Dyno said, and he hopes it will fund multi-year programming.
“We want to prevent the use,” he said, adding, “We haven’t discussed any details — we just got notified that it happened. We’ll have the planning meetings to do that.”
Michelle Trauring on Oct 4, 2023