Tucson Unified School District will receive $10.6 million in a settlement of a lawsuit against the e-cigarette company JUUL Labs, Inc. for marketing its products to students.
TUSD was allocated a large share of the settlement because it was a bellwether in the case, said TUSD general counsel Robert Ross. That means it was one of about eight school districts that prepared to go to trial on behalf of the nearly 1,500 school districts that sued JUUL Labs.
โHolding big businesses like JUUL and Altria accountable for marketing to children and selling addictive products to children is important,โ said TUSD Governing Board President Ravi Shah.
โAs a physician, I see the effects of nicotine addiction, marijuana use and other drug use time and time again, and it has horrible consequences on the health and life and safety of so many of our community here in Tucson,โ Shah said at Tuesdayโs board meeting, where the board unanimously approved the settlement.
Ross said TUSD was one of the first, in October 2019, of the nearly 1,500 school districts throughout the United States that sued JUUL Labs and Altria Group, Inc., a branch of the tobacco company Philip Morris, for marketing to students. The Altria Group is not part of this settlement, and that case remains open.
Taking on the role of bellwether meant the districtโs legal team dedicated a significant amount of time to produce documents, while district staff participated in depositions related to the case.
In December 2022, according to information provided by the district, the parties developed a settlement proposal that totaled about $436 million for the participating school district.
Each districtโs allocation was decided using a formula based on student count, and TUSD was allocated an additional $4 million for being a bellwether district.
Ross noted that TUSDโs legal fees will be 25% of the districtโs settlement amount. That means TUSD will receive more than $7 million from the settlement after paying its legal fees.
Ross said the district can expect to receive 54% of that in June, and the balance will be distributed in equal amounts each December until 2026.
โWhat are we going to be using that money for?โ board member Natalia Luna Rose asked.
Ross said the settlement didnโt include restrictions on how the district could spend the money, so the district will have a lot of flexibility in allocating the funds.
โI hope that, with this money, we can put it towards our students in helping them combat their addiction to this and other substances,โ board member Sadie Shaw said.
The governing board said it will discuss ways, before June 1, of investing the $7 million to help mitigate the effects of addiction for students and the community.
Watch now: Tucson has started the process of placing restrictions on where smoke shops can operate in the city while planning to crack down on tobacco retailers selling to underage buyers. Video courtesy of city of Tucson.
