BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) – CVS Health used the goodwill of its customers to pay off a debt it owed to a charity, a class action lawsuit says.
Kevin McCabe and his lawyer Todd Bank filed the lawsuit May 26 in New York federal court. At issue was a nationwide campaign from Nov. 2 through Nov. 27 in which the checkout screens used by customers to pay asked them if they’d like to make a donation to the American Diabetes Association.
The screen featured several pre-selected amounts that customers could select, or one that said no.
“Customers had no reason to believe that the checkout message was anything but true and accurate,” the lawsuit says.
“CVS did not merely collect customers’ campaign donations and forward them to the ADA, but instead counted campaign donations toward the satisfaction of a legally binding obligation, which CVS had made to the ADA, to donate $10 million to the ADA during the three-year period of 2021 through 2023.”
The donations paid down CVS’s own debt, the suit says. It seeks reimbursement under the consumer protection laws of several states.