Welcome to Critical Mass, Law.com's weekly briefing for class action and mass tort attorneys. The FDA adds firepower to lawsuits alleging Juul falsely marketed its e-cigarettes as safe. Why are so many groups objecting to next month's opioid trial? And here's what lawyers are looking at in the California boat fire.

Feel free to reach out to me with your input. You can email me at [email protected], or follow me on Twitter: @abronstadlaw

Juul Under Fire for Marketing Claims

Where there's smoke, there's fire. At least, that seems to be the case in the legal cloud over Juul Labs, after the FDA sent this letter on Monday to its CEO demanding to know more about its marketing claims⁠—in particular, that its e-cigarettes are safer than traditional cigarettes.

What got the FDA fired up? For one thing, evidence was presented before a U.S. House subcommittee in July that Juul's executives had made such claims about their e-cigarettes to school children. In a second letter (see here), the FDA sought documentation about Juul's marketing, including its "Make the Switch" campaign targeted to smokers.