May 22nd, 2009

From aboutlaw

A lawsuit seeking class action status was filed in Tennessee this week on behalf of six people who purchased Hydroxycut prior to the May 1 recall. The complaint seeks to prevent Iovate Health Sciences, Inc. from profiting from the sale of the dangerous dietary supplement that has been linked to reports of liver damage and other potentially life threatening injuries.

The Hydroxycut recall class action suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on May 20, 2009, claiming that the plaintiffs, who are all residents of Tennessee, each purchased various Hydroxycut products, spending between $20 and $5,000 each before the supplements were removed from the market.

A Hydroxycut recall was issued on May 1, 2009, after the FDA identified at least 23 reports of serious liver problems, including one death, among users of the weight-loss products. The liver complications ranged from symptoms like jaundice to liver damage requiring a liver transplant.

The FDA also identified other reported problems with Hydroxycut, including cases where users suffered seizures, heart problems and a serious type of muscle damage known as rhabdomyolysis, which could lead to other health problems like kidney failure.

The Tennessee Hydroxycut lawsuit seeks class action status to represent the interests of all individuals who purchased any of the 14 recalled Hydroxycut products that were sold by Iovate Health Sciences, Inc. The complaint alleges that Iovate knew, or reasonably should have known, of the potential Hydroxycut health problems, and should be prevented from profiting on the sale of the defective and dangerous supplements.

At the time of the recall on Hydroxycut, the Iovate products accounted for approximately 90% of all weight-loss supplement sales, with approximately 1 million bottles sold annually.

Although the Hydroxyxcut lawsuit does not allege that any of the plaintiffs were diagnosed with liver damage or liver failure, they did each suffer from various symptoms after use of the products, such as abdominal pain, headaches, nausea, vomiting, excesive fatigue, weakness, brown urine, light colored stools, and anxiety attacks requiring psychiatric treatment.

The lawsuit presents claims under strict liability for failure to warn about the frequency and severity of the reported side effects of Hydroxycut, defective design, negligence, breach of implied and express warranty, negligent and intentional misrepresentation, fraud, negligent infliction of emotional distress, loss of consortium, unjust enrichment and violations of the Tennessee Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Earlier this month, a similar Hydroxycut class action suit was filed in Canada, and there have been a number of individual Hydroxycut injury lawsuits filed on behalf of users who who have been diagnosed with liver damage or other injuries that were specifically caused by use of the dietary supplements.

Throughout the United States, Hydroxycut lawyers are reviewing and investigating cases, and potentially thousands of lawsuits could ultimately be filed on behalf of individuals who can establish that they suffered an injury from Hydroxycut. Unlike a class action, individual lawsuits would take into consideration the circumstances of each plaintiff.

While it is likely that all of the injury lawsuits filed in various federal courts throughout the United States will eventually be consolidated for pretrial proceedings as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation, they will remain individual cases that will be evaluated on their own merits by a jury, unlike a Hydroxycut class action.