Minnesota has reached a settlement agreement with e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs and its major shareholder Altria Group over ads that allegedly violated state laws by targeting minors, YahooFinance reported. The state’s attorney general, Keith Ellison, announced the settlement on Monday, but held back the terms of the agreement. Ellison said in a press release that those details will be announced “soon.” “One of my goals in bringing this case was to send a message: We will not tolerate youth marketing of nicotine products in Minnesota,” Ellison said in a statement sent to Yahoo Finance. Ellison filed suit against Juul in 2019 — and later added Altria as a defendant — claiming that the pair disregarded consumer protection laws, breached a duty of reasonable care, and created a public nuisance. The settlement comes within days of Juul’s largest multi-state agreement to date to end a string of disputes over its allegedly deceptive ads targeting children. On Wednesday, state attorneys general for California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, and the District of Columbia announced a $462 million settlement with the company over alleged violations of their respective consumer protection laws. Juul did not admit wrongdoing in entering the multi-state settlement.
