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J&J Children’s Medicine Recall Class Action Lawsuit Tossed

By Kimberly Mirando

 

Johnson & JohnsonA federal judge has nixed a class action lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson by consumers claiming they overpaid for Children’s versions of Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl, which were later recalled due to manufacturing deficiencies.

The Johnson & Johnson recall class action lawsuit represented 10 consolidated cases filed across the country alleging consumers paid extra for brand-name versions of over-the-counter children’s medicine because they trusted J&J’s reputation and commitment to safety. In April 2010, J&J recalled over 53 children’s and infant products, including children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl, due to the possibility they contained deficiencies that could affect the potency, purity and/or quality of the products. Had consumers known they were paying more for a defective product, they never would have purchased J&J’s brand-name children’s medicine over generic products, they claimed in the class action lawsuit.

J&J eventually ended up recalling 126 million bottles of infant and children’s products that month, prompting a Congressional investigation.

“That is one reason why the failure of Defendants to timely tell consumers the truth about the serious degradation of the quality and condition of the subject products has caused harm to consumers, who continued to pay inflated, premium prices for all subject products — not just those Defendants chose to recall when government scrutiny became too great to avoid public disclosure any longer,” according to the amended class action lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, McNeil Consumer Healthcare.

J&J offered consumers who purchased the recalled drugs coupons or cash refunds, but Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit said the coupons failed to fully make up their losses. They also claimed the refund applied only to the average retail price of products and excluded sales tax.

The problem with their class action lawsuit, however, was that they said they didn’t need to show they actually received defective products because they suffered losses when they paid premium prices for products manufactured at a facility with quality-control problems.

U.S. District Judge Mary McLaughlin rejected that argument on July 13, 2012, dismissing the case with prejudice.

“To establish that the drugs they purchased were defective, the Plaintiffs should have showed some sort of personal injury, and not merely ‘rely upon the experiences of other individuals,’” Judge McLaughlin wrote in her decision.
    
“The fact that other persons suffered adverse effects, or that the Defendants recalled some products that were manufactured in the same facility as the drugs they purchased, does not suffice to establish injury in fact as to this group.”

The case is In Re: McNeil Consumer Healthcare, et al., Marketing & Sales Practices Litigation, MDL No. 2190, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

 

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Updated July 26th, 2012

 

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