One day after the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) issued marketing denial orders (MDOs) to Juul that would have immediately put the once-dominant e-cigarette maker out of business, Juul filed for an emergency appeal, which was granted by a federal appeals court, allowing the company to temporarily resume selling its vape cartridges, WHYY reported. 

In filing for the emergency appeal, Juul said that the MDOs would cause irreparable harm to the company. Thousands of consumers have filed personal injury lawsuits against Juul, however, no lawsuits have gone to trial.  

Juul faced Congressional scrutiny in 2019 over its fruity and dessert-like flavored e-cigarette cartridges. These sweet flavors appealed to minors and because Juul controlled most of the e-cigarette market share, was blamed for the soaring rates of teenage vaping. 

In 2020, Juul removed all its flavored tobacco cartridges from the market, leaving regular-flavored tobacco and menthol as the remaining options. 

Because of its large market share and advertising of attractive flavors, Juul has played a disproportinate role in the rise of teenage vaping. Despite submitting over 125,000 pages in its application to the FDA two years ago for market approval, the FDA alleges that Juul’s application lacked the evidence to show that marketing its products “would be appropriate for the protection of the public health.”

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is reviewing Juul’s emergency appeal. According to Reuters, the Court said the purpose of the stay was to allow the court sufficient time to consider Juul’s briefing for an emergency review and not a ruling on the merits of that motion. 
Should the panel not side with Juul, the company may file for bankruptcy. Juul’s share of the U.S. e-cigarette market has dropped by approximately 50% since it was urged by Congress to remove flavored tobacco juice from the market in order to curb teen consumption.