August 9, 2019 — As previously reported, in late 2018 the trial court judge entered summary judgment dismissing our lawsuit against the Nebraska Cancer Coalition (NCC). The judge basically ruled that no cause of action existed because the NCC “Bed is Dead” campaign did not mention Nebraska tanning salons by name. The judge also mentioned that the court did not want to stifle the free flow of information in the marketplace, particularly given that some of the statements published by the NCC were originally issued by the federal government.

We appealed the trial court’s ruling and had oral arguments on the matter in February before the Nebraska Supreme Court.  We received the opinion from the Nebraska Supreme Court this morning, and unfortunately the Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the ruling by the trial court.

While we are disappointed with today’s news, by filing the action and battling with the NCC over the last four years, we have been able to accomplish the following:

• The NCC corrected or eliminated from its materials many false and misleading statements about indoor tanning.
• We convinced Nebraska radio stations to stop airing anti-tanning PSAs.
• We convinced the state of Nebraska to pull its funding of the Bed is Dead campaign.
• We stopped the “Bed is Dead” campaign from spreading to other states.

While the science won’t have its day in court in this matter, the ASA will continue our efforts to encourage a public dialogue about the importance of sensible UV exposure. Thanks for your continued support of the ASA as we work to defend and advance the indoor tanning industry.