NAHANT — At a School Committee meeting Tuesday night, Superintendent of Schools Tony Pierantozzi brought up the idea of the town joining the national lawsuit versus Juul Labs.
The suit was brought by a group of attorneys in California, who are representing school districts throughout the country. William Shinoff, one of the attorneys, in his email to Pierantozzi, pointed out to the FDA’s decision to deny Juul’s application to sell products in the U.S. as a reason to join the litigation.
Thirty-three attorneys general settled with Juul for $434 million over their deceptive marketing. It is not the end for the nationwide litigation for the school districts, but a big step forward for the case, according to attorney Shinoff. The monetary resolution can only be used on several methods, which includes installation vape detectors, funding for school resource officers, funding for psychologists, educational programs on harms of vaping, and reimbursement of anti-vaping education programs.
Pierantozzi explained to the committee that the lawsuit is not a class action, which means that they have to sign up for the litigation. The deadline for filing is the end of October, and the first trial will happen on Nov. 7.
Funds from the suit could go to reimbursing the costs of vaping education and prevention, which the town has done in the past, Pierantozzi said.
School Committee Vice Chair Michelle Dam said anti-vaping education is critically important for students.
“The more information that they have about something that’s not good for their health at a younger age, when they’re approached at a young age by other kids who are older than them, they know the difference. They know what it is,” she said.
Nahant Schools are doing anti-drug, anti-smoking, and anti-vaping education all the time, according to Pierantozzi.
“But if we do get funds, we may be able to do it a little more robustly,” he said.
The committee believes there is no downside of joining the litigation no matter the result of the lawsuit, even if it is not successful there is no cost to the district.
Pierantozzi also said that he will only send the contract to the attorney after the approval of town counsel. The litigation contract is still pending review for town counsel to sign and approve.
Sylvia Chen can be reached at [email protected].
