NJOY Inc., one of the nation’s largest electronic cigarette makers, filed for bankruptcy in Delaware on Sept. 16, owing close to $4 million in unpaid legal fees to several big firms, including DLA Piper and Goodwin Procter, the National Law Journal reported yesterday. The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company seeks to remain in business while selling off assets is a leading manufacturer and distributor of e-cigarettes and other vaping products. Jeffrey Weiss, NJOY’s general counsel and interim president, said in a declaration of his own that the company’s bankruptcy was attributed to several issues. Among them were the market failure of NJOY’s King 2.0 disposable e-cigarette in 2013 and its unsuccessful attempt at a rebranding in 2014. Another contributing factor to NJOY’s chapter 11 filing was the substantial costs incurred by the company this year in order to comply with a series of regulations announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May controlling the registration and distribution of e-cigarettes, according to Weiss’ declaration.
