Richland 2 votes against joining class-action suit against vaping giant JUUL

Lucas Daprile

Richland 2 school district will not be joining a class-action lawsuit against vaping giant JUUL, at least for now, the board voted Tuesday.

The lawsuit alleges JUUL engaged in deceptive marketing practices and marketed its product to minors. JUUL has said it has curbed advertising, is less harmful than alternatives and that its customer base is adults.

Board member Amelia McKie made a motion to join the lawsuit, which saw support from district Superintendent Baron Davis.

“Sometimes you take on an issue and lend your voice so others who don’t have a voice can have the strength to do so,” Davis said. “So we wanted to join the collective group of school districts that say ‘we believe vaping is wrong and we want to do something about it.’”

“Sometimes you have to be the one to step up and make a stance,” said Davis, who noted Richland 2 is the fifth-largest school district in South Carolina.

McKie said schools throughout the country have had issues with students vaping and she had heard from a local teacher, parent and a principal they were concerned about vaping in Richland 2 schools.

The motion to join the suit was a 3-3 vote, meaning it fails. McKie, Cheryl Caution-Parker and Manning voted for joining the suit. Lashonda McFadden, Agostini and Elkins voted against joining the lawsuit. Board member Teresa Holmes was not present at the meeting because she was sick, board chair James Manning said.

Board members Monica Elkins and Lindsay Agostini voted against joining the lawsuit because Richland 2 has no data to back up how many students in the district are using JUULs or vapes, they said.

“Richland 2 is a data-driven school district,” Elkins said. “I can’t support something in the dark.”

If the class-action lawsuit were to be successful, it’s unclear how much money Richland 2 would receive, nor what the money would be used for, Manning said. However, board members floated ideas such as teacher pay raises or a scholarship for students pursuing a degree in medicine.

Richland 2 isn’t the first S.C. Midlands school district to consider joining the suit. In October, Lexington 1 became the first school district in S.C. to join the case, which is based in California, The State previously reported.

JUUL, a international corporation, has a footprint in the S.C. Midlands. In 2019, JUUL announced it would build an assembly and packaging plant in Lexington County, which promised to create 500 jobs, The State previously reported.

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