NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – Homeopathic teething remedy makers and sellers Hyland’s, Standard Homeopathic, CVS Pharmacy and Target asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to dismiss a consumer class action lawsuit filed against them on Sept. 15.
According to the memorandum in support of the motion to dismiss, lead plaintiffs Jennifer O’Neill and Tricia Zamfino filed the class action lawsuit, “attempting to take advantage of a statement by the Food and Drug Administration that homeopathic teething tablets ‘may pose’ a risk to children and infants.”
As a result of the FDA warning, the memorandum said the plaintiffs alleged that Hyland’s “falsely advertised its teething products as ‘safe,’” leading the plaintiffs to buy the products, “which are now worthless to them and cannot be used given the FDA’s concerns about the safety of this medicine.”
Since the class action lawsuit seeks a refund of the purchase price, which Hyland’s is already offering through its recall, the defendants said in the memorandum that “nothing further can be gained by the litigation.”
“Any further litigation is pointless, and the court should dismiss the case as moot,” the defendants said in their dismissal memorandum.
In addition, O’Neill and Zamfino alleged that CVS and Target also sell the teething products that were the subject of the FDA warning.
The defendants said in their memorandum that Hyland’s issued a recall of the product, which an FDA investigation revealed “contained inconsistent levels of belladonna.”
“While plaintiffs’ complaint is certainly provocative, it does not allege any cognizable claim for relief,” the dismissal memorandum said. “Since the complaint was filed, the FDA and Hyland’s have taken actions that render this case entirely moot.”
The defendants also argued in the memorandum that the plaintiffs have done nothing to back up their claim that the product is “worthless.”
“None of the sources cited in plaintiff’s complaint - not the FDA, the journalists or even the unidentified individuals who claim to have suffered physical injury - establish that Hyland’s teething products are unsafe or cause physical injury,” the memorandum said. “Speculation that the products ‘may pose’ a risk based on alleged inconsistent ingredient levels, or unproven anecdotal claims that a child had a seizure while taking the product, does not establish that the products are unsafe and therefore ‘worthless.’”