Altria, Juul Lose Bid to Toss Investor Suit on Youth Marketing

Altria Group Inc. and Juul Labs Inc. must face a would-be securities class suit accusing them of failing to disclose the legal risks of marketing e-cigarettes to underage consumers, a federal judge in Virginia said.

Altria’s investors sufficiently alleged that it and Juul knew about the risks of targeting youth as new customers but opted not to disclose the information “for fear of deflating the values of the company,” the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said. Altria invested $12.8 billion in Juul in 2018.

Juul argued that the Altria investors lacked standing to sue it ...