Summary:
A lawsuit filed on February 11, 2015 against Walgreen Co. and Duane Reade Inc. (collectively, “Walgreens”). Walgreens is the largest drug retailing chain in the United States, with around 8,217 stores in operation. In February 2010, Walgreens acquired the Duane Reade chain, and continues to operate it under the Duane Reade name. The lawsuit alleges that Walgreens has misbranded some of their supplements under the “Finest Nutrition” product line by not accurately identifying all the ingredients or the quantity of such ingredients included in the supplements. These claims are based on recent testing done by the New York State Attorney General which found that a sample of supplements, including “Finest Nutrition” brand Gingko Biloba, St. John’s Wort, Ginseng, and Echinacea, did not contain the substances that they were named for. The lawsuit seeks to recover damages for breach of contract, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, unjust enrichment, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce between a business and consumers. Affected consumers include any consumer nationwide who has purchased “Finest Nutrition” brand Gingko Biloba, St. John’s Wort, Ginseng, or Echinacea.
Plaintiff alleges that Walgreens made uniform representations through their product labels, packaging, advertisement, and other marketing materials, which presented that their “Finest Nutrition” supplements contained the ingredients for which they were named. Subsequently, Plaintiff alleges that by purchasing the aforementioned supplements, he formed a valid legal contract with Walgreens, which Walgreens breached by providing a product that did not contain the represented ingredients. Plaintiff claims that Walgreens’ marketing of its products created an express warranty in the form of a reasonable expectation that the misbranded supplements would contain the represented ingredients. Plaintiff further claims that Walgreens breached this express warranty by providing supplements which did not contain the named ingredients that they were alleged to contain.
Plaintiff alleges that Walgreens breached an implied warranty of merchantability in the contract created between Walgreens and consumers for the sale of the named supplements because the misbranded supplements were defectively designed and unfit for their intended and ordinary purpose. Plaintiff claims that Walgreens charged a higher price for their supplements than the products’ true value, which was misrepresented to consumers, and therefore allowed Walgreens to inequitably and unjustly increase financial gains at the expense of the consumers. Plaintiff alleges that Walgreens’ misrepresentations were negligent and that they had no reasonable grounds upon which to believe that their claims were true when they made them.
Plaintiff argues that Walgreens violated New York’s General Business Law by committing an unfair or deceptive act or practice in the conduct of trade or commerce. Specifically, Plaintiff claims that Walgreens was deceptive in their designing, packaging, marketing, distributing, and selling of misbranded supplements.
Anyone who has purchased Walgreens “Finest Nutrition” brand Gingko Biloba, St. John’s Wort, Ginseng, or Echinacea may have a claim. Please contact the litigation attorneys at Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP, (212) 300-0375, to schedule a free consultation so that we can discuss your rights.
Contact Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP.
Anyone who has purchased Walgreens “Finest Nutrition” brand Gingko Biloba, St. John’s Wort, Ginseng, or Echinacea should contact Fitapelli & Schaffer, (212) 300-0375, or at www.fslawfirm.com, to see if you are eligible to join the case. You can also view the complaint here.