F E AT U R E
The most clear and present problems on
liability for vaping lie in unreliable devices.
There are also significant, ongoing issues
with mislabelled products, another liability
vulnerability for vape businesses. Manufacturers
are more legally responsible than distributors
Insurance complications defined the day’s main talk on business,
When Steve Green of Anthony Jones Insurance Brokers took to the
stage, we were treated to invaluable advice from a keen, experienced
financial mind. Anthony Jones Insurance Brokers may have been media
partners for the event, but were also able to bring the full expertise and
detached objectivity of a fully-grown industry outside of vaping.
“In insurance terms, vaping is a very, very young entity,” he said. “That
newness, that uncertainty means potentially shaky confidence for insurers.
“The most clear and present problems on liability for vaping lie in
unreliable devices. There are also significant, ongoing issues with
mislabelled products, another liability vulnerability for vape businesses.
Manufacturers are more legally responsible than distributors.”
Steve acknowledged that much of this was due to ubiquitous and often
unfairly negative media coverage of malfunctioning devices. “Mod
safety is improving – accidents caused by exploding batteries via
faulty chargers is falling and products are improving across the board.
“The biggest cause of battery and mod failure is user error – an extremely
difficult defence to put forward in court when faced with an injured party.
The image of a company going against an individual in such a situation
isn’t a sympathetic one and won’t engender good media coverage.”
With Steve Green’s eye-opening talk fresh in everyone’s minds, the floor
was handed over to four additional figureheads and authorities in matters
of business: Cuts Ice CEO Nigel Quine; Malcolm Keen, Solicitor
of BLM Law – the UK’s leading insurance and risk law specialists;
Jac Vapour CEO Neil McCallum and Stuart Mathieson of WTC Logistics.
Malcolm Keen continued the advice on what vape companies should
consider on matters of insurance. He said potential divided the basics
into three parts: insurance claims begin with identification of loss and
damage, develop with assessment of how loss changes with a claim, and
conclude with a defence. Malcom pointed out that “there has never been a
successful secondary smoke claim” made against vaping, and that though
we see a 96-96% harm reduction compared to smoking, some influential
bodies are prolonging certain debates, such as popcorn lung claims.
“Claims rely on proof of causation; proofs of pulmonary
disorder or other reactive diseases are almost impossible but
claimants will still attempt them. Public Health England agreed
in 2016 that health risks in e-cigarettes are minimal compared
to combustibles, but long-term effects are still being observed.”
The talk also contained warnings against short-term,
myopic thinking and the temptations of quick fixes: Business matters and Brexit are joined at the hip in today’s landscape, but
Neil McCallum urged us not to let it distract from our mission: “Thousands
and thousands of small elements on all things related to business will be
affected by Brexit, but unless we get vaping separate from tobacco we’ll never
establish our own identity in the market and insurance companies won’t be
able to accurately and impartially assess us for claims, cases and coverage.”
“Merely selling insurance to vape retailers is
not an adequate fix for problems in this field.” Nigel Quine said it was vital that an opportunity was
not missed to free millions of people from smoking tobacco.
There are bigger problems on the horizon, many of them tied
to the consequences of vaping being misidentified as
tobacco-associated. “Our top priority must be separating tobacco from vaping in the
public eye,”
“Without a doubt, manufacturers and retailers in all regions will
be subject to future tobacco litigation.”
Steve predicted the EU would again move toward classification of e-cigarettes
as medicinal products. There are also numerous class action lawsuits brewing
in the American legal system to be wary of; tremors in the world’s largest vape
market will have a domino effect. Steve advised vape businesses research
these lawsuits on www.schmidtandclark.com and www.classaction.com
he said. We have an opportunity to free millions from smoking and can’t
let this product of ours be legislated away from its potential. When this
happens, we lose valuable time that could be spent advancing and
perfecting vapour products and expanding their reach.”
VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE ISSUE 11 89