NYC files lawsuit against ‘significant, nationwide’ vape provider

The city has filed a lawsuit against a Long Island vape provider, Mayor Adams announced Thursday. 

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the Eastern District of New York, seeks to block the Price Point company from selling vapes, plus seeks monetary damages and fines, claiming the company violated numerous federal, state and local laws.

“They are feeding this problem, and it is hooking our teenagers on vaping and e-cigarettes,” Adams said of the company at a press conference announcing the lawsuit Thursday. “They have raked in thousands of dollars while putting our kids on the path to addiction, and it is a major health care issue that we are facing.”

This is just the latest lawsuit the administration has filed against vape companies. In July 2023, the Adams administration sued several companies, and in April the city filed a suit against 11 local distributors.

Flavored vapes are banned in New York City.

“This lawsuit should send a message to any company or individual who thinks they can illegally line their pockets at the expense of harming kids,” said Muriel Goode-Trufant, the acting corporation counsel, the head of the city’s law department.

Goode-Trufant said that the city’s investigators purchased cotton candy- and cherry cola-flavored vapes online and had them sent to addresses in the city, as well as other states. 

“We believe that they conduct significant, nationwide business,” she said, adding that the sales of the vapes violate several laws, including mail fraud, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act and public nuisance laws.

Adams said Thursday the city is working to educate schoolchildren on the dangers of vaping and to shut down shops that sell the e-cigarette devices.

The city has closed more than 1,200 unlicensed smoke shops and confiscated an estimated $84 million worth of products through Operation Padlock to Protect.

The Department of Investigation is currently probing the city’s Sheriff Department for possible improper cash seizures during Operation Padlock raids of such shops.

“Whatever tools we can use,” Adams said, “from enforcement to education to lawsuits, litigation, we’re going to use them all to accomplish that task.”