(Reuters) -Altria Group Inc said on Wednesday it had reached a $235 million settlement to resolve at least 6,000 Juul-related state and federal cases.
E-cigarette maker Juul has been battling several lawsuits about deceptively marketing e-cigarettes and contributing to a youth vaping epidemic, and so has former investor Altria.
“While we continue to believe the claims against us are meritless, we believe this settlement avoids the uncertainty and expense of a protracted legal process and is in the best interest of our shareholders,” said Murray Garnick, Altria’s executive vice president and general counsel.
He added this settlement brings to a close the vast majority of its pending Juul-related litigation.
Altria expects to record a pre-tax charge of $235 million in the second quarter of 2023 and intends to exclude it from adjusted earnings per share.
As of December, Altria’s share of Juul was valued at $250 million, down from $12.8 billion in 2018
(Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
