No court decision on Massachusetts vaping product ban
An attorney representing vaping companies failed to file the proper paperwork in the correct fashion on Tuesday.
BOSTON (AP) — A decision on whether to lift Massachusetts’ four-month ban on the sale of all vaping products has been delayed over a technicality.
New England Cable News reports that an attorney representing vaping companies who oppose Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s ban failed to file the proper paperwork in the correct fashion on Tuesday.
The Vapor Technology Association and local vape store owners say the ban is causing irreparable damage to their businesses and will destroy a $331 million industry.
The attorney for the vaping companies says he will file an amended complaint by Friday. He is seeking immediate relief from the ban. The state will then have an opportunity to respond.
The state reported 10 probable or confirmed cases of lung illness caused by e-cigarette products, and one death.
Two federal lawsuits have been filed against Baker and Monica Bharel, the commissioner of the sate Department of Public health, who announced the ban on Sept. 24 as they declared a public health emergency amid the national outbreak of vaping-related lung injuries and deaths.
The ban, which lasts until Jan. 25, 2020, immediately halted all retail and online sales of nicotine, flavored, non-flavored, and marijuana vaping products.
Vape businesses across the state, including a handful that filed one of the lawsuits, say they were blindsided by the measure and that it will likely put them out of business.
Jeffrey Vick, co-owner of Vick’s Vape Shop in Medford, and several other shop owners in their lawsuit have argued that the ban is unconstitutional because it usurps the federal Food an Drug Administration’s authority to regulate vaping products and also interferes with interstate commerce.
