Before the cigar trade groups filed their joint lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Global Premium Cigars, LLC. filed its own lawsuit against the FDA. With the recent policy shift announced by the FDA, Global Premium Cigars’ lawsuit has been stayed, bringing it to a pause in light of the recent developments. While the lawsuit is not officially dropped, this does bring it to a stop without a current plan for proceeding forward.
Frank Herrera, an attorney with H New Media who was representing Global Premium Cigars in the lawsuit, commented on the recent development on Facebook:
“H New Media is pleased to announce that after over a year of pursuing litigation in federal court against the United States Food and Drug Administration a major step forward has taken place in the case. Today, H New Media, on behalf of Plaintiff Global Premium Cigars, LLC., and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a Joint Motion to Stay the Case due to the FDA’s recent announcement regarding the nearly three-year extension to the deadline for Substantial Equivalence.
“H New Media agreed to this Joint Motion due in large part to the FDA’s announcement of Friday, July 28, 2017 extending the deadline for Substantial Equivalence by nearly three years. H New Media feels that this extension provides relief for issues that were raised in their June 1, 2016 filing challenging the FDA’s May 10, 2016 Deeming Regulation.
