Troutman Sanders’ Tobacco team practice partner Bryan Haynes was quoted in a May 22 Law360 article titled “Regulators Eye Crackdown on Rising Use of Tobacco Discounts” about New York City possibly leading the way on a broad ban on the practice of tobacco discounting by tobacco companies. To read the…

The Troutman Sanders Tobacco practice will be presenting at the Tobacco Merchants Association Annual Meeting and All-Industry Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia on May 16th.

Ashley Taylor will present on “Promotions in Rhode Island & New York.”  Bryan Haynes will participate in a panel entitled “Deeming Regulations — A Conversation,” which…

On April 22, 2013, the United States Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari in a First Amendment challenge to the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act’s graphic warning label requirement.  The law requires that cigarette packages display graphic warning labels covering 20 to 50 percent of the product packaging.

The Troutman Sanders Tobacco practice is proud to be participating in the Food and Drug Law Institute’s (FDLI) 2013 Annual Conference, the largest and longest-running legal conference for regulated industry. This year’s conference will cover legal, regulatory, policy and economic issues spanning the gamut of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) authority, by bringing together experts from industry, Congress, and federal agencies. FDLI’s Annual Conference provides a valuable educational opportunity to discuss and debate emerging issues.

On March 4, 2013, the Office of the New York Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Grand River Enterprises Six Nations, Ltd., Native Wholesale Supply Company Inc., Jerry Montour, Jr. and Kenneth Hill in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.  Grand River, a Canadian-based manufacturer, sells cigarettes throughout the United States.  Native Wholesale Supply, a New York-based distributor, purchases Grand River cigarettes for resale in New York.  The Plaintiff’s four-count complaint alleges violations of: (1) the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act; (2) the PACT Act; and (3) New York Tax Law.

REMINDER:  All employers covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act (”FMLA”) were mandated by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to display the new FMLA poster by March 8, 2013.

Background:  Twenty years ago, President Bill Clinton signed the FMLA into law.  The law, requiring all employers with 50 or more employees to provide job-protected and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons, ranks as one of the most insidious and complicated federal statutes for employers. Instead of using the FMLA’s 20th anniversary as a catalyst to provide FMLA clarifications, the DOL instead, issued additional federal regulations that implement statutory changes ensuring the FMLA will continue to be one of the biggest compliance headaches for covered employers.

Poster Revisions:  The poster revisions include

The new head of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, Mitchell Zeller, started work this week.

Zeller (who is a trained lawyer) has a long record in tobacco control, having led FDA’s failed effort in the mid-1990s to regulate tobacco products.  The U.S. Supreme Court rejected that effort, finding that FDA lacked congressional authority to regulate tobacco products.  Now that FDA has been given congressional authority, Zeller takes over as head of those efforts, assuming the position held by Dr. Lawrence Deyton since the inception of FDA’s tobacco authority.