Officials in Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 are moving toward a settlement of a more than year-old lawsuit against the manufacturers of vaping products and oils, and others affiliated with them, related to their impact on the district and its students.
The District 60 Board of Education unanimously approved a tentative settlement with manufacturer JUUL Labs, Inc., and five individuals associated with the company, Tuesday at the Lincoln Center administrative building in Waukegan, potentially bringing cash to the district.
Since the settlement agreement is not binding until it is signed by everyone involved and approved by the court, district deputy general counsel Joseph Clary said the amount has not been released.
Though board President Brandon Ewing did not go into detail about the settlement terms, he said he was pleased with the potential outcome.
“I’m going to say no comments to questions based on what we were advised,” Ewing said before the vote. “This is good for the district.”
Not alone in their pursuit of damages from JUUL for targeting young people for tobacco use, the district is one of 1,400 nationwide involved in the federal multidistrict litigation. The cases involved 42 districts in Illinois, including three others in Lake County.
Clary said in an email the multidistrict lawsuits involve multiple cases with common “questions of fact” transferred to a specific federal court to proceed toward resolution. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
“This was a team effort,” Clary said in the email. “The District’s position in this case was greatly enhanced by the work that was done by a number of (its) employees as well as the District’s outside attorneys.”
Along with District 60, Township High School District 113, consisting of Deerfield and Highland Park high schools; Barrington Community Unit School District 220; and Grayslake Community High School District 127, with Grayslake North and Grayslake Central high schools, are part of the group.
While the precise amount of money coming to District 60 is still being determined, the 35,000-student District U-46 in the Elgin area agreed to a $1.2 million settlement, and the Chicago Public Schools received $23 million earlier this month.
In its lawsuit against JUUL, District 60 alleges the company’s conduct created a public health crisis in Waukegan’s public schools causing it to spend, “significant and unexpected levels of time and resources on addressing the pervasiveness of youth e-cigarette use,” according to the complaint filed in the case.
Youngsters “openly used e-cigarettes in classrooms,” in some cases behind teacher’s backs, according to the complaint.
“Students skip class, arrive to class late or ask to leave to use the restroom,” the district said in its complaint. “These behaviors cause disruption and divert staff resources away from classroom instruction, requiring additional time and attention for addicted students.”
Though combustible cigarettes have become socially unacceptable, according to the complaint, JUUL marketed e-cigarettes as “a ‘safe’ and ‘healthier’ alternative to smoking and as a way to defy existing smoke-free regulations.”
As the use of JUUL’s products continued to grow, the district said in the complaint it had to redouble its efforts to educate students and their families about the hazards of tobacco use. Superintendent Theresa Plascencia said in an email the push continues.
We “will continue to champion tobacco prevention and education and we are very pleased with the prospective outcome of this case,” Plascencia said in the email. “The work done by the District’s internal and external lawyers will help reduce and deter youth nicotine use.”
Reporters Mike Danahey, Hank Sanders and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
