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Robert Claiborne

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Robert Claiborne works primarily in the areas of litigation and compliance on behalf of tobacco manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and suppliers.

Plaintiffs have appealed to the Eighth and Ninth Circuits, challenging flavored tobacco bans in Los Angeles County, California, and the City of Edina, Minnesota. The cases could have implications for similar laws in other States and localities.

Has Congress preempted local authority to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products? Two different U.S. Courts of Appeals will have the opportunity to answer the question in R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et al. v. City of Edina, et al., No. 20-2852 (8th Cir.), and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et al. v. Los Angeles County, et al., No. 20-55930 (9th Cir.).…
Continue Reading Two U.S. Courts of Appeals to Consider Federal Preemption of Local Flavor Bans

Cases challenging Los Angeles County’s flavored tobacco ban could define the limit of State and local authority in addressing flavored tobacco products and could have implications for similar laws in other States and localities.

Los Angeles County’s flavored tobacco ban is being challenged in two cases: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et al. v. Los Angeles County, et al., No. 2:20-cv-04880 (C.D. Cal.), and CA Smoke & Vape Association, Inc., et al. v. Los Angeles County, et al., No. 2:20-cv-4065 (C.D. Cal.). Both cases are before the Honorable Dale S. Fischer of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.…
Continue Reading Is L.A. County’s Flavored Tobacco Ban Unlawful?

In a recent article in Bloomberg Tax, Troutman Sanders attorneys Robert Claiborne and Agustin Rodriguez discuss a House subcommittee hearing on the effect of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Wayfair decision on small businesses and whether Congress might try to mitigate the effects of state and local taxation on interstate commerce in the wake of…

In the August 2019 edition of SMOKESHOP Magazine, Troutman Sanders attorneys Robert Claiborne and Bryan Haynes discuss the tobacco regulatory implications of President Trump’s 2017 Executive Order 13771 reducing regulation and adding cost controls. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued guidance surrounding the Order which prompted a lawsuit to be filed in…

Troutman Sanders attorneys Bryan Haynes and Robert Claiborne, Jr. were featured in the April 2017 issue of SMOKESHOP magazine. The article, titled “UPS Untaxed Cigarette Trafficking Liability: Increased Scrutiny on Tobacco Companies”, discusses a recent court decision finding United Parcel Service liable to New York City and New York State for claims related to alleged …

Troutman attorneys Bryan M. Haynes and Robert S. Claiborne, Jr. were featured in the February 2017 issue of SMOKESHOP, a tobacco industry magazine, in an article discussing the Indiana Vapor Act. This article discusses the federal appeals court’s decision that Indiana’s Vapor Pens and E-Liquid Act is unconstitutional to the extent that it regulates out-of-state …