By Terry Witt -Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Levy County School Board members Tuesday postponed a decision on whether to participate in a federal lawsuit aimed at recovering damages from e-cigarette maker Juul and other manufacturers of vaping equipment.

            While board members acknowledged that vaping among the nation’s youth has reached epidemic proportions and poses a threat to student health they weren’t ready to join with other school districts in the litigation, at least not yet.

            “We will revisit this at a later time,” said Board Chairman Cameron Asbell following a video internet conference with Steven Maher, a Winter Park attorney who would be part of the legal team representing the school board.

            School Board member Ashley Clemenzi was absent from the meeting. Superintendent Chris Cowart said Clemenzi should be present for a decision of this magnitude.

            Cowart and the board were asked by a reporter if student vaping is a problem in Levy County public schools.

            “I think we are seeing a rise in discipline with it and it’s even turning into our elementary schools,” said Cowart.

            Cowart said later that the Deans of all the district schools met recently to decide how to classify disciplinary actions related to vaping as a way to better track the problem. Some schools refer to vaping as a tobacco-related disciplinary action, others as vaping.

            E-cigarettes frequently contain nicotine, the active ingredient in tobacco and one of the most addictive substances on the planet, but Cowart said THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, is also sometimes found in vaping fluids.

            Federal health officials have expressed concerns about the rapid expansion of vaping among the nation’s youth and young people.

            The U.S. Surgeon General has said, “There is an e-cigarette epidemic among youth.”

            Maher’s law firm represented the State of Florida in lawsuits filed against tobacco companies a few years ago. One of the outcomes of the settlements, which ran into the billions of dollars, was a public awareness campaign to deter Florida’s youth from smoking. The number of youth smokers decreased dramatically as a result of the campaign, but most of the gains began eroding four or five years ago when vaping became the rage among many of the state’s youth.

            School board member Brad Etheridge referred to vaping among youth as a national problem.

            Asbell took it a step farther.

            “I think it’s like what the man said, it’s a product that’s geared straight for children. That’s why they have the flavoring that they do, and you’re not the target,” Asbell said looking at adults in the audience. “I don’t think you can single it out as a Levy County problem. It’s a nationwide problem that affects children. It’s a bad thing and it’s going to keep getting worse and worse and worse and that’s what the concern is.”

            The Gilchrist County School Board has approved an agreement with Maher to file a lawsuit on its behalf. Attorney Lindsey Landers was online with Maher to discuss Gilchrist County’s decision to go forward with the litigation.

            Cowart said e-cigarettes can’t be legally be purchased by underage people, but he said some stores in Levy County have been lax about carding underage smokers buying e-cigarettes.

            “It’s easily accessible, unfortunately. Our children can walk into many stores and buy it themselves,” he said. “There is an issue when we have stores that do not card people, and that’s how kids are being able to access stuff. It is some parents too, so I won’t throw our stores totally under the bus. There is an issue. We’re trying to work with law enforcement to correct this.”

            Maher told the board he and co-counsel, Wagstaff and Carnell, LLC of Kansas City, Mo., are representing more than 100 school districts across the country in multi-district federal litigation against Juul and other e-cigarette manufacturers.

            Juul manufactures 75 percent of the nation’s e-cigarettes, according to internet news stories.

            Levy County, as a small school district, wouldn’t be a bellwether case to give lawyers on both sides the insights into what they might be facing when the main litigation goes forward, Mayer said. Bellwether cases, sometimes referred to as test trials, give an indication of whether plaintiffs or the defense might be successful in court.

            “They are done in order to give both sides, the plaintiffs and defendants, an idea of what a jury might do for the rest of the cases – the non-bellwether cases (like Levy County),” Maher said in response to questions from board member Tammy Boyle. “The judge tries a few of these bellwether cases to give the parties an idea of what’s staring down the pike at them.”

            Boyle asked what would happen if the bellwether cases weren’t successful. Since each school district is filing a lawsuit, would Levy County have to go forward with its own case if the bellwether cases failed? Maher said his firm would represent the county regardless of the outcome and at no cost to the county. Levy County would never be asked to pay any costs associated with the litigation if there wasn’t a settlement. The lawsuit filed by his firm would be the county’s only chance to be reimbursed for damages.

            “This is your one shot,” said School Board Attorney David Delaney.

            “I’m not for vaping,” Boyle responded. “I think it is a huge problem. I think there are kids doing a lot more with nicotine in it.”

            Board member Brad Etheridge asked Maher to confirm whether it was true that if there was a settlement, lawyers for the county would get 25 percent of the gross award and 75 percent would go to the school board. Mayer said that was true, but he said litigation costs would be deducted from whatever dollar amount the county was awarded.

            Boyle reminded Maher there would be costs associated with county staff having to gather statistics and other information as part of the legal proceedings. Mayer said she was correct and the school board would have to decide if it wanted to shoulder those costs.

            “I’m thinking of the manpower someone in our district has to do to fill out that plaintiff’s fact sheet and how long that will take. I mean, that’s dollars. That’s hours from an employee and putting more on their plate. I’m looking more at that fact,” Boyle said.

            Boyle also wondered how the county could assess the size and scope of its damages if it hasn’t purchased bathroom vape detectors or added more security officers to counter the vaping problem.

            “Great question,” Mayer said “Just because you haven’t done it in the past, doesn’t mean you do not have a claim. There are a lot of clients who haven’t put vape detectors in, they haven’t hired any more security, but that’s not to say that they won’t have to do that in the future or won’t choose to do that in the future or won’t want to have the opportunity to do that in the future. I wouldn’t worry about the past. “It’s not only in the past; it’s in the future and perhaps more in the future because it is a real problem now.”

            Mayer said he thought the lawsuit was worth the county’s time. He said the county wouldn’t lose any money but it could win a settlement for a worthwhile cause.

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School Board of Levy County Regular Meeting May 11, 2021; Posted May 12, 2021