CVS Vitamin E Class Action Lawsuit Alleges False Advertising of Health Benefits

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In another lawsuit targeting the health claims of consumer product labeling, CVS Caremark Corp. became the focus of a class action lawsuit Friday. The CVS class action lawsuit alleges that CVS brand vitamin E pills improperly assert they have heart health benefits.

The CVS vitamin E class action lawsuit was filed in Rhode Island federal court by plaintiff Ronda Kauffman, on behalf of a proposed Class of all customers across the U.S. who purchased seven versions of vitamin E supplements sold by the pharmacy chain, including subclasses in Rhode Island and New York, where the class action lawsuit alleges the chain violated deceptive business practice laws.

According to the proposed class action lawsuit, on the vitamin E packages it sells, CVS “represent the product is intended for ‘heart health.’ However, numerous double-blind, placebo-controlled studies demonstrate that vitamin E and vitamin E supplementation offer no cardiovascular benefit. Vitamin E does not reduce the risk of suffering a cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack, nor does it reduce the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.” Further, says the complaint, there are no comparable, scientifically valid studies supporting this representation.

As a result of the alleged misrepresentation, said Kauffman, she and the proposed Class received products that did not perform as advertised.

“The overwhelming majority of scientific studies find no ‘heart health’ benefit to taking vitamin E supplements,” says the CVS vitamin E class action lawsuit, which asks for a permanent injunction against CVS requiring it not make the “heart healthy” claim on its vitamin E labels, in addition to actual, statutory and punitive damages, and a disgorgement of profits the chain earned from the allegedly illegal sales of the pills.

According to the class action lawsuit, Kauffman read, reviewed, and relied on the representation regarding heart health made on the product packaging when she purchased the CVS Vitamin E 400 IU Softgels (100 count) at a CVS located in Plainview, New York, believing it would provide the promised heart health benefits. She would not have purchased the product, she said, if she had known the truth about the alleged misrepresentations and omissions.

In addition to citing a number of studies that show no connection between vitamin E consumption and heart health, Kauffman’s complaint also detailed the wide number of statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention demonstrating how much risk U.S. citizens face with regards to heart disease, including the estimated annual cost of heart disease for healthcare services, medications, and lost productivity of $108.9 billion, and the 600,000 people who die of heart disease in the U.S. each year.

The vitamin E pill bottles, sold at 7,600 CVS pharmacies nationwide, have packaging that in part reads, “Vitamin E helps maintain healthy blood vessels and promotes heart health.” The products included in the CVS class action lawsuit include:

• CVS Natural Vitamin E Oil 30,000 IU;
• CVS Vitamin E 1,000 IU Softgels (50 count);
• CVS Vitamin E 400 IU Softgels (250 count);
• CVS Vitamin E 400 IU Softgels (100 count);
• CVS Vitamin E 400 IU Softgels Natural (100 count);
• CVS Vitamin E 400 IU Softgels Value Size (400 count); and
• CVS Vitamin E 200 IU Softgels (100 count).

Kaufman is represented by K. Joseph Shekarchi of Shekarchi Law Offices, Brian D. Penny and Douglas Bench of Goldman Scarlato Karon & Penny PC and John Zaremba and Robert Corbett of Zaremba Brownell & Brown PLLC.

The CVS Vitamin E Mislabeling Class Action Lawsuit is Ronda Kaufman et al. v. CVS Caremark Corp. et al., case number 1:14-cv-00216, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.

UPDATE: On Jan. 28, 2016, a motion to dismiss this CVS vitamin E class action lawsuit was granted.

UPDATE 2: On May 16, 2016, CVS pleaded with the First Circuit to uphold a Rhode Island federal court’s dismissal of a consumer class action lawsuit filed by a customer alleging the pharmacy chain misleadingly markets its vitamin E products bearing the “heart health” label.

UPDATE 3: On July 25, 2016, Kaufman pleaded with the First Circuit to revive the lawsuit, telling the panel of judges that a lower court misinterpreted her state-law claims alleging that CVS misled consumers about the supplement’s ability to fight heart disease and improperly dismissed the case.

UPDATE 4: On Sept. 6, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed a district court’s February 2016 ruling that plaintiff Ronda Kaufman’s claims under New York’s Consumer Protection Act are preempted by the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.