False Labeling Class Action Filed Against Vitamin Shoppe

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On Jan. 7, a false labeling class action lawsuit has been filed against Vitamin Shoppe Industries Inc. in California federal court, alleging the company deceived consumers by only listing the organic ingredients and omitting the cheaper, non-organic ingredients that compose the majority of the supplement.

Lead plaintiff Rebecca Scheuerman claims Vitamin Shoppe’s Reservie Trans-Resveratrol supplement’s label flaunts the French grape seed extract and organic muscadine grape seed ingredients, although the supplement allegedly only contains small quantities of these ingredients than consumers are led to believe by the company’s product labels.

According to the Vitamin Shoppe false labeling class action lawsuit, Reservie is mostly composed of “non-organic, presumably Chinese sourced Polygonum cuspidatum, commonly known as Japanese Knotweed, which is a much cheaper source of trans-resveratrol than French Grape Seed Extract based trans-resveratrol or Organic Muscadine Grape based trans-resveratrol,” Scheuerman claims.

Trans-resveratrol is a naturally occurring chemical commonly found in the skins of grapes and also red wine. On the company’s  website, Vitamin Shoppe has promoted their Reservie Trans-Resveratrol product as a natural antioxidant and heart booster. According to the Vitamin Shoppe class action lawsuit, while it is mainly found in grape skins, concentrations of trans-resveratrol can also be found in knotweed; however, this is allegedly not made known to the consumers at the time of purchase.

In her false labeling class action lawsuit, Scheuerman claims:

“To this day, defendant has taken few, if any meaningful steps to clear up consumers’ misconceptions regarding the Reservie Trans-Resveratrol product.  As a result of defendant’s representations and/or omissions regarding Reservie Trans-Resveratrol, plaintiff and other consumers similarly situated overpaid for the product because the value of the product was diminished at the time it was sold to consumers.”

Scheuerman brings several allegations against Vitamin Shoppe, including claims of violating the California’s False Advertising Law, California’s Sherman Law, California’s Unfair Competition Law, negligent misrepresentation, and intentional misrepresentation. The plaintiff is seeking restitution and damages resulting from purchase of the Vitamin Shoppe supplement product for herself and a Class of “all persons in California who purchased Reservie Trans-Resveratrol … within four years prior to the filing of this action,” according to the false labeling class action lawsuit.

This is not the first time Vitamin Shoppe has faced legal accusations of misrepresenting a product in its labeling and marketing. In September 2014, another false labeling class action lawsuit was filed against the company in New York federal court, which alleged the company falsely labeled their BodyTech Whey Tech Pro 24 and other products as containing large amounts of Aminogen, a digestive enzyme, when in reality the product hardly contained any Aminogen to the point of being useless.

The plaintiffs are represented by Abbas Kazerounian of Kazerouni Law Group APC and Joshua B. Swigart and Jessica R. K. Dorman of Hyde & Swigart.

The Vitamin Shoppe False Labeling Class Action Lawsuit is Rebecca Scheuerman v. Vitamin Shoppe Industries Inc., Case No. 15CV0025, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

UPDATE: The Vitamin Shoppe Reservie Trans-Reservatrol Class Action Settlement is now open! Click here to file a claim! 

UPDATE 2: On June 17, 2017, Top Class Actions viewers who filed a claim for the Vitamin Shoppe Reservie Trans-Reservatrol started receiving checks in the mail.