FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Schlesinger Law Offices filed a class action lawsuit against the manufacturers of ZYN, a relatively new, but not novel, oral nicotine pouch that, according to the firm, “perpetuates the lifeblood of the tobacco industry – capturing teenage users and creating lifelong nicotine addicts.” ZYN is manufactured by Swedish Match. Philip Morris International, the international distributor of Marlboro, the world’s most popular cigarette, acquired ZYN in 2022. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Diego, CA. ZYN, by far, dominates the market of oral nicotine pouches with around 70% market share.
The lawsuit was filed on March 1, 2024, on behalf of Bailey Wolters, who was attracted to ZYN’s flavors and advertising and is now severely addicted to nicotine. The lawsuit claims ZYN provides users with enough nicotine to create and sustain addiction and is advertised to hook kids to ZYN while hiding the harms associated with its use. According to attorney Jonathan Gdanski, “ZYN’s marketing and use of flavors mirrors the same themes of independence, adventurousness, and being “cool” that the tobacco industry used with cigarettes. This resonates so well with teens and has created a culture of coolness associated with using ZYN. ZYN is the fidget spinner the kids can never put down.”
News agencies have reported on the growing attraction of ZYN and the fact that while the youth are abusing it, parents and adults are, by and large, ignorant of it. Gdanski adds, “The profits created through the creation and perpetuation of youth nicotine addiction are obviously too attractive for the tobacco industry to walk away from. Instead, they pivot from product to product, staying many steps ahead of the public health community but just within reach of those most susceptible, the youth of our country.”
The complaint claims that ZYN is defective in design, lacks adequate warnings, and that Defendants fraudulently represent ZYN as “tobacco-free” even though the nicotine is derived from tobacco. Jeffrey Haberman, another attorney at the firm, added, “We wish we did not have to file any more lawsuits against anyone selling nicotine-containing products that create drug addiction. Unfortunately, the tobacco industry has not and seems unable to learn its lesson.”
Schlesinger Law Offices, P.A. has a long history of representing those injured through tobacco company misconduct. The firm represented the State of Florida in recovering billions of dollars in Medicaid expenses and then went on to represent hundreds of smokers and their loved ones in individual actions against the tobacco industry across Florida. More recently, the firm was appointed lead counsel in the class action lawsuit against Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company and RJ Reynolds for their deceptive marketing of Natural American Spirit cigarettes. In 2019, the firm filed the first class action lawsuit against Altria and Philip Morris USA for its investment in the Juul e-cigarette and was appointed to the steering committee to prosecute the consolidated claims against Juul and multiple defendants associated with the Juul epidemic. Visit Schlesinger Law Offices, P.A. at www.schlesingerlawoffices.com to find out more.
Jonathan Gdanski
jonathan@schlesingerlawoffices.com
(954) 967-8800
SOURCE Schlesinger Law Offices, P.A.
