SAN DIEGO (Legal Newsline) – A federal judge has dismissed a proposed class action against a stem cell center alleged to have misled a woman into thinking it could help cure her cancer but will allow the plaintiff to amend her lawsuit to prove she is seeking at least $5 million.
San Diego federal judge Linda Lopez on July 29 dismissed Christina Mendez’s case on jurisdictional grounds and gave her until Aug. 29 to fix its problems. Mendez sued the Global Institute of Stem Cell Therapy and Research, also known as Giostar, in 2020.
Judge Lopez wrote Mendez’s lawyers failed to show how much is being sought in the case and how they will meet the $5 million threshold for federal court jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act.
“Plaintiff alleges that that cost of her disputed treatment, $22,500, is representative and typical of the amount charged by Defendants for stem cell therapy and that ‘the claims of the proposed class members exceed $5 million in the aggregate,’” Lopez wrote.
Mendez says there are thousands of patients who received treatment at Giostar, but Lopez says this conclusion seems to rest on Giostar’s claim it successfully treated 4,000 patients from 2011 to 2016.
“Plaintiff does not provide any basis for the claim that there are thousands or hundreds of putative class members, either in California or in other states, or that the combined amount in controversy would meet the jurisdictional threshold,” Lopez wrote.
Lopez also took issue with Mendez’s lawyers attempt to show minimal diversity among the parties.
“Plaintiff’s complaint fails to allege her own citizenship and fails to properly allege the citizenship of defendants because she only alleges the residence of the individual defendants and does not allege both the principal place of business and state of incorporation of the two corporate defendants,” she wrote.
“Assuming, arguendo, that Plaintiff and the Defendants are citizens of California, the minimal diversity requirement of CAFA would not be met.
“Plaintiff’s complaint seeks to certify a nationwide class of plaintiffs who are ‘citizens of the United States,’ numbering in the thousands. However, a conclusory and prospective allegation that at least one unknown member of a nationwide class will result in minimal diversity is not sufficient to satisfy the pleading requirements for CAFA jurisdiction.”
Mendez says she was 29 when diagnosed with Stage II Hodgkin lymphoma and was symptom-free for a year when she sought treatment by the defendant.
She was given stem cell therapy without first undergoing chemotherapy or radiation, and the institute failed to match the cells injected into her body with her own cells, causing rejection, the lawsuit says.
After spending tens of thousands of dollars, her cancer went from Stage II to State IV and her liver began to fail, the lawsuit says. She was told she had a year to live, at the most.
Surgery, transfusions and eight months of chemo sent her into remission, she says.
The complaint takes issue with a quote by Mahatma Gandhi on the institute’s home page.
“In a twisted juxtaposition, Defendants have used Gandhi – a cultural and religious icon – and a quote about truth-saying, to peddle their misrepresentations and lies,” the complaint says.
“While Gandhi sought truth and change through nonviolent means, the false statements and material omissions made by Defendants have dire and sometimes fatal consequences.”
The lawsuit alleges the institute misrepresents that its stem cell treatment can treat and cure “blood-related diseases” like sickle cell anemia, leukemia, lymphoma and thalassemia.