Vape Company Charged $375,000 For Illegal Sales to Minors

California-based vaping company, E-Juice Vapor Inc., will be paying Washington state $375,000 after an investigation revealed that it had failed to block online sales to minors.

Diane Caruana

August 2, 2021

Seven vape retailers were caught violating Washington state’s online age verification law, but only one failed to cooperate with the investigation.

E-Juice Vapor Inc., was amongst seven e-cig retailers caught violating Washington state’s online age verification law. Six of the retailers cooperated with the investigation and paid smaller settlements, however E-Juice Vapor failed to do so. To this effect the state filed a lawsuit against the company in August 2020.

The lawsuit has resulted in a settlement of $375,000, which are meant to go towards the enforcement of Washington’s vaping product laws. “E-Juice Vapor illegally put profits over the safety of children,” said state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, “We will continue to work with parents to keep nicotine products out of the hands of youth.”

The six other companies which cooperated with the investigation were:

VanVal Vapor, based in Spokane, paid $30,000
Zenith, based in New York, paid $50,000
Local Vape, based in Henderson, Nev., paid $25,000
Northland Vapor, based in Moorhead, Minn., paid $7,000
WOV, based in Castle Rock, Colo., paid $20,000
Vaping Zone, based in Columbia, S.C., paid $40,000

Washington’s vape laws

An article on Komo news highlighted that in order to sell vape products lawfully, retailers in Washington state need to adhere to the following:

“Clearly state Washington’s minimum legal age of purchase on their website.
Use a third-party verification service to confirm the purchaser’s name, age and residential address.
Verify the credit card information, and it has to match the information the purchaser provides.
Get a signed certification from the purchaser, saying they are who they say they are, and they are of legal age to purchase vapor products.
Include shipping documents that clearly state the package contains vapor products.
Provide information about Washington law regarding the purchase of vapor products by minors.”

North Carolina’s lawsuit against Juul

In other recent news, Juul Labs had to fork out a $40 million as a result of a lawsuit by North Carolina’s Attorney General John Stein, which goes back as far as 2019. The suit accused the infamous manufacturer of illegal business and marketing practices.

In 2020 Juul appealed to get the lawsuit dismissed, however, the State’s Senior Judge Orlando Hudson, ruled in favour of Stein, and denied the dismissal. Besides the settlement, Juul has agreed to limit its sales and marketing practices, in order to minimize youth access to it’s products.