FDA Premium Cigar Lawsuit Appeal Delayed Again

There has been another minor delay in the appeal of the lawsuit over premium cigar industry regulation.

Last week, Michael Edney—the cigar industry’s lead attorney in this case—requested the court delay the schedule two additional weeks. This request was made because the Virginia Solicitor General’s Office indicated that it—and other states—were planning to file briefs in support of the cigar industry side. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia granted the motion, which was unopposed by the Department of Justice.

The new schedule is as follows:

• Appellee’s Brief Due April 15
• Appellants’ Reply Brief Due May 6, 2024

The government is appealing last year’s decision in Cigar Association of America et al. v. United States Food and Drug Administration et al., the federal lawsuit filed in 2016 by three cigar trade groups that successfully exempted premium cigars from most of FDA’s deeming regulations.

While this delay was unopposed by the government, a previous delay was opposed by the government, which cited a desire to get the appeal heard in May. In February, Edney requested a 30-day delay to allow for more time to respond. Ultimately, the court granted Edney’s motion, which delayed brief deadlines from March to April. It remains unclear when oral arguments will be heard in this case, but it seems unlikely to be in May as the government once hoped.

Last August, this lawsuit resulted in a major victory for the cigar industry when Judge Amit P. Mehta ruled in favor of the three cigar trade groups that filed the case, finding that FDA failed to properly evaluate comments submitted to the agency prior to the enacting of the deeming rule. This meant that cigars that meet the definition of “premium cigars,” large handmade cigars that are not flavored, were no longer subject to FDA’s deeming regulations, such as testing requirements, user fees and a ban on giving away those cigars for retail promotions or charitable donations.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.