RIVERSIDE, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – A Moreno Valley, California, man has filed a class action lawsuit against the maker of Tylenol alleging that the company misleads consumers about the effectiveness of its rapid-release acetaminophen.
Eduardo Hernandez filed suit on Nov. 15 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Eastern Division against Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., after he purchased Tylenol Extra Strength Rapid Release Gels in May at a Sam’s Club.
According to the complaint, Hernandez, who suffers from knee pain, paid "approximately $16.48 – a cost more than the brand’s traditional acetaminophen products, like tablets or caplets, in the same count." Hernandez alleges the product, however, didn't work any faster for him than other cheaper acetaminophen products.
Hernandez contends he "would not have been willing to pay the premium that he did for the Class Rapid Release Gelcaps. Instead, he would have purchased a cheaper, just as effective and just as fast acting acetaminophen product."
According to the complaint, Hernandez and others were "misled or deceived by J&J’s false, misleading, and deceiving representations and as a result purchased the Tylenol Rapid Release Gelcaps."
The suit also states that “rapid release” or “fast-release” are sold on average at a price 23 percent higher than those acetaminophen products not making the claims.
"J&J has long known that traditional, non-rapid release acetaminophen products can be equally effective in the same, if not faster, time period than its Tylenol Rapid Release Gelcaps," the suit states. "In fact, a new study demonstrates that Tylenol Rapid Release gelcaps dissolve slower than J&J’s non-rapid release products."
Johnson Johnson first introduced Rapid Release Gelcaps in 2005 in the United States "as 'specially designed' Gelcaps 'with holes to allow [for] the release of powerful medicine even faster than before,'" the suit states.
Hernandez is represented by Crystal Foley of Simmons Hanly Conroy in Los Angeles.