LifeWatch Heart Monitoring Service Fee Class Action Lawsuit Filed

Sales agents for LifeWatch USA, a medical device manufacturer and service provider, duped customers by telling them family members purchased heart-monitoring devices for them, then collected monthly service fees even if the devices were never activated, according to a class action lawsuit filed in New York Tuesday.

According to the proposed LifeWatch class action lawsuit, a salesperson for the firm told lead plaintiff Edward Reynolds that one of his family members had purchased a device for him. The salesperson then collected Reynolds’ credit card information, charging him the $34.95 monthly service fee for several months, though Reynolds never activated the device.

Reynolds accuses LifeWatch executives, LifeWatch companies and LifeWatch outside salespeople of being part of a conspiracy to deceive customers into paying monthly service fees for devices they neither need nor want. He says his credit card is still being charged, though he has requested the company discontinue his services.

According to the LifeWatch class action lawsuit, “[t]he defendants intended the plaintiff to rely on their misrepresentations. As a direct result of defendants’ improper, fraudulent, and/or deceptive practices, the plaintiff has suffered an ascertainable loss as well as other damages.”

The LifeWatch class action lawsuit alleges that the CEO reported in a sworn declaration that the company does not monitor outside salespeople making calls on behalf of the heart monitoring service; Reynolds calls this a “convenient” way of displacing blame for the allegedly fraudulent practices.

Reynolds is seeking to represent a proposed Class of all New York or U.S. residents who purchased and/or paid for a LifeWatch medical alert device and/or monthly services.

Reynolds is represented by Barry J. Gainey of Gainey McKenna & Egleston.

The LifeWatch Heart Monitor Service Fee Class Action Lawsuit is Edward J. Reynolds v. LifeWatch Inc., Case No. 7:14-cv-03575, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.