Former Juul Exec Loses Contamination Case

A former Juul Labs executive has lost a case accusing the vapor company of shipping contaminated vaping pods to retailers and firing him in retaliation for complaining, reports Reuters.

Siddharth Breja,  a former senior vice president of global finance, sued Juul in October 2019. He alleged that the company endangered consumers by refusing to recall mint-flavored e-cigarette nicotine pods or to issue a safety warning.

Breja said he objected to the company re-selling products that were nearly a year old without a “best by” date on their packages. He said his complaints angered his superiors and that he was fired in retaliation in March 2019.

Juul denied all claims and sought to have the case sent to arbitration. The federal court lawsuit was put on hold pending arbitration in March 2020.

In a joint filing on July 27, lawyers for both parties said an arbitrator had ruled against Breja and ordered him to pay certain of the company’s legal costs. They did not give further details about the decision, but asked that the lawsuit be dismissed once Breja had paid the award.