Northern Illinois Court District
Class Action Lawsuit Based on NYAG Investigation Settled by Target, Walgreens,
and Walmart
Over two years after New York Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman sent cease-and-desist orders to the four retailers GNC, Target, Walgreens,
and Walmart for allegedly selling adulterated herbal dietary supplements based
on the results of a flawed and widely criticized DNA barcoding investigation
into the authenticity of herbal dietary supplements, Target, Walmart, and
Walgreens settled a multi-district lawsuit that was based on the results of the
NY AG’s investigation.1 The lawsuit, a consolidation of cases initiated
by attorneys of 56 consumers, alleges major fraud by the retailers, and claims,
among others, that “millions of consumers
across the nation have been duped by GNC, Target, Walmart, and Walgreens and
have spent years purchasing fake and fraudulent products.”2 GNC,
which initially was a defendant in this litigation, entered early into an
agreement with the NY AG, in which Schneiderman’s office explicitly
stated that “NY AG found no evidence in the course of its investigation that
GNC deviated from the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) current Good
Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) rules or standard industry practice in the
production of the tested supplements,” which eventually led to the dismissal of
GNC from the lawsuits. (The GNC herb supplements, which were subject of the
initial action by the NY AG, were allowed to be sold immediately after the
agreement was signed, without any modification of the ingredients or product
labels.) Details of the settlement between the plaintiffs and Target,
Walgreens, and Walmart are not known.
Comment: With this
settlement, it is unlikely that the questions about the contents of the herbal
dietary supplements investigated by the NY AG will ever be answered.
Nevertheless, the actions by the NY AG have left their mark on the botanical dietary
supplements industry in the United States, especially the requirement for those
companies that entered a settlement with the NY AG and agreed to use genetic
testing for plant identification. While the benefits and limitations of genetic
methods are generally known in the botanical industry, the benefit of such
testing on crude raw materials in cases where taxonomic or macroscopic
identification provide adequate documentation of identity is questionable.
References
- Long J. Target, Walgreens,
and Walmart settle class action lawsuit initiated by NYAG investigation.
Natural Products Insider [online]. July 26, 2017. Available at: https://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/blogs/insider-law/2017/07/walmart-target-settle-herbal-supplements-class-ac.aspx.
Accessed October 20, 2017.
- Hagens
Berman files class-action lawsuit against Walmart, Walgreens, Target and GNC
over reportedly fraudulent supplements. BusinessWire. February 6, 2015.
Available at: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150206005876/en/Hagens-Berman-Files-Class-Action-Lawsuit-Walmart-Walgreens. Accessed October 20, 2017.
