$15.5 Million Class Action Settlement
Rabin Kammerer Johnson announces the settlement of Mahoney v. Endo Health Solutions, Inc., No. 15-cv-09841(DLC), a class action lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The firm served as co-lead counsel for a nationwide class of consumers who purchased chewable multivitamins with fluoride marketed under the brand named “Qualitest.” The lawsuit alleged that the manufacturers mislabeled this product because it did not contain the full amount of fluoride stated on its label and packaging insert. These products were commonly prescribed by dentists and pediatricians for children who live in geographic areas without fluoridated water.
The settlement included a nationwide notice program to alert class members who purchased these products as well as a procedure for claim reimbursement through a third-party claims administrator, AB Data, Ltd.
This case followed a qui tam action that Rabin Kammerer Johnson filed in 2013 under the False Claims Act. That case, which involved the same mislabeled product, resulted in a recovery of $39 million for the federal government and various state Medicaid programs that had paid for these sub-potent fluoride multivitamins.
The firm filed this follow-up lawsuit to secure a recovery for non-governmental purchasers of the products, mostly parents who bought these multivitamins for their children believing that they contained the full amount of fluoride stated on the label.