Smoking two pods a day and hitting the Juul every 10 minutes caused a Connecticut man to suffer a severe stroke, he says in a lawsuit targeting the billion-dollar company.
After getting hooked on the product during his last year of high school, Maxwell Berger, 22, suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke in July 2017 and spent over 100 days in the hospital. He required three brain surgeries and still suffers left-side paralysis, speech impairment and a 50 percent loss of vision from both eyes.
His lawsuit was filed in the California Superior Court for San Francisco County by Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, a firm that has won cases against many large corporations and big tobacco companies.
“We are hoping that Juul takes responsibility for its conduct in targeting and luring young people to use its very dangerous products, and that they are held accountable for fair and reasonable compensation to this young man,” said attorney Sarah London, who represents Berger in the case.
The lawsuit accuses Juul of fraudulent concealment and intentional misrepresentation of the product’s risks, along with negligence in promoting and selling to younger people, specifically under the age of 26. The lawsuit represents the most severe claim of medical harm against Juul to date, and Berger hopes to receive monetary compensation.
“The teen vaping was by design, not by accident,” the lawsuit states. It goes on to accuse Juul of appealing to teenagers and making the e-cigarettes seem “fun, healthy and cool.”
Because Berger became addicted in 2015, Juul had already “become ubiquitous among his high school friends,” according to the lawsuit.
The e-cigarette company is facing seven other suits from various states, the majority of which involve teenagers.
Last week, the CEO of Juul apologized to parents whose teenage children had begun smoking, saying the products were never intended for them. However, he admitted the company has not done long-term research on its effects.
“We hope the lawsuit can help get the word out about the dangers of this product,” London said. “We hope this doesn’t happen to anyone again.”
