Walmart’s Pricing On Equate Infant Medicine Exploits Fear, Class Action Lawsuit Claims

Walmart and one of its suppliers face a class action lawsuit from parents who claim the retailer is unfairly pricing its Equate-branded medicine for infants.

California residents Chandler McFall and Kailey McDonald’s babies were in pain last year and needed acetaminophen. The parents said they trusted the extra money paid for the Walmart Equate infant pain reliever was worth it. 

Now, they’re plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against Walmart, with claims the formula used in Equate Infants’ Pain & Fever Acetaminophen is exactly the same as one used for older children, but costs nearly twice as much.  

“Defendants made — and continue to make — material misrepresentations and failed — and continue to fail — to adequately disclose that the Infant’s Product is simply the Children’s Product sold at a higher price,” the plaintiffs said. 

Walmart’s Equate-branded infant acetaminophen costs $3.94 for a 2-ounce bottle. Four ounces of the children’s product retails at $2.88, according to the Walmart class action lawsuit. 

“There is no difference in the medicine sold in the Infants’ Product and the Children’s Product. But Defendants do not disclose this important information anywhere,” the plaintiffs said, adding the formulas for both are exactly the same: 160 milligrams per 5 milliliters.

A similar class action lawsuit against Walmart has been filed in California’s Southern District for the same allegations over the Equate-branded infant acetaminophen.

Parents in both these cases say Walmart exploited fears of overdosing their children with acetaminophen through package marketing.

“Defendants mislead consumers by using deceptive marketing techniques which obscure critical facts from consumers nationwide — most critically, the fact that infants can safely take Children’s Products and that the Products are exactly the same,” the plaintiffs said. 

The class action lawsuit alleges consumers are deceived by the packaging, which includes images of a mother pushing a stroller and messaging with the words “Infants” in “distinctive multi-colored lettering” and “Compare to Infants’ Tylenol Oral Suspension active ingredient.”

Alternatively, the plaintiffs say Walmart Equate-branded acetaminophen for children “leads a reasonable consumer to believe that it consists of medicine that is specific to children, as opposed to infants.”

Walmart is not the only retailer facing these types of class action lawsuits: Kroger and Rite Aid also face legal action over their infant-branded medicine. 

A California mother claims she’s been “tricked” into paying nearly three times as much as necessary. The plaintiff in that case said she bought the Kroger’s Infants’ Pain & Fever Acetaminophen for nearly four years with “the safety of her children in mind.”

In New York, a mother claims Rite Aid “exploited fear” from parents by overcharging for its brand of infant pain and fever reducer. 

Another case involving similar claims against Johnson & Johnson and their infant medicines has reached a $6.3 million settlement.

The fear parents refer to comes from the possibility of overdosing an infant with acetaminophen.

It’s a “problem that terrifies parents and caregivers and causes them to be extra careful when buying medicine for their young children and babies,” the plaintiffs said. 

There were reports of 20 child deaths from acetaminophen toxicity between 2000 and 2009, the class action lawsuit claims.

During that same period, an additional three deaths were attributed specifically to giving the incorrect acetaminophen dosage.

The deaths led acetaminophen manufacturers to voluntarily change their ratios of liquid acetaminophen in their pediatric products in 2011. The mix before the change was 80 mg per 1 mL. The standard after the change is now 160 mg per 5 mL, according to the class action lawsuit.

“Since then, the only difference in acetaminophen products marketed for infants and children (including Defendants’ Infants’ Product and Children’s Product) has been the price and the plastic dosing instrument included with the product,” the plaintiffs said.  

Walmart has more than 4,700 stores in the U.S. and has come to rely on its Equate brand. The plaintiffs say some 84% of Walmart’s customers buy Equate-branded products. 

The other defendant in this class action lawsuit is Perrigo, a company that manufactures and labels the Equate-branded liquid acetaminophen for Walmart retail.

Have you purchased infant-branded Walmart Equate products recently? Let us know in the comments below. 

Counsel for the plaintiffs are: Gillian L. Wade, Sara D. Avila and Marc A. Castaneda of Milstein Jackson Fairchild & Wade LLP; Hank Bates and David Slade of Carney Bates & Pulliam PLLC; Melissa S. Weiner and Joseph C. Bourne of Pearson, Simon & Warshaw LLP; Scott Edelsberg of Edelsberg Law PA; Rachel Dapeer of Dapeer Law PA; and Andrew Shamis of Shamis & Gentile PA.

The Walmart Equate Class Action Lawsuit is Chandler McFall and Kailey McDonald v. Perrigo Company, and Walmart Inc., Case No. 2:20-cv-07752, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.  

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