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Juul Presses to Have Avalanche of Lawsuits Moved to San Francisco

  • Some plaintiff lawyers want e-cigarette cases heard elsewhere
  • Health-risk revelations led to 55 suits in more than 20 states
A person smokes a Juul Labs Inc. e-cigarette.
Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg
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Juul Labs Inc., maker of the top-selling e-cigarette device in the U.S., asked a federal court panel in Los Angeles to send dozens of lawsuits it faces over the almost daily revelations of the health risks of its product to a judge in its hometown of San Francisco.

Austin Schwing, a lawyer for Juul, made the pitch Thursday at a hearing before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation, which determines whether suits filed in federal courts across the U.S. are similar enough that pre-trial proceedings involving information exchanges and evidence gathering should be managed by a single judge.