WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - An organization that says it is dedicated to “defending science and critical thinking” can sue CVS and Walmart for placing homeopathic remedies next to Food and Drug Administration-approved medicines, a District of Columbia appeals court ruled. The decision overturned dismissals by lower-court judges who said no reasonable consumer could be deceived into thinking the homeopathic products were government-approved.
The Center for Inquiry sued the retail chains under D.C.’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act, a statute that gives the power to file lawsuits to organizations formed “for the purpose of promoting interests or rights of consumers.” The D.C. law contrasts with standing doctrine in federal court, where plaintiffs must show they have suffered a concrete injury in order to sue.
District judges dismissed the cases against CVS and Walmart for similar reasons, finding CFI didn’t meet the statutory definition of a consumer group and the mere placement of homeopathic remedies near “science-based” products wasn’t a deceptive practice under the CPPA. But the District of Columbia Court of Appeals reversed in a Sept. 29 decision, relying primarily upon a similar case involving the Animal Legal Defense Fund against Hormel.
The court in that case rejected a narrow reading of the D.C. law, which would limit standing as it is done in federal courts, saying the District of Columbia “intended to confer maximum standing for public interest organizations.” Hormel argued the ALDF only represented the rights of animals, but the D.C. court found it “advocates on behalf of consumers” by making sure claims about the humane treatment of animals are accurate.
In this case, the court said, CFI “strives to foster a society free of . . . pseudoscience.” Walmart argued the group had a longstanding antipathy toward homeopathic remedies and was trying to use the courts to enforce its own ideology. The D.C. court said while that argument might strip a nonprofit of standing under federal law, the CPPA was written to allow organizations to sue on broader grounds.
The court also supported CFI’s right to sue over the placement of homeopathic products next to “science-based” products in the pharmacy section, which it said could be a deceptive practice under the CPPA. Walmart and CVS argued no one could be deceived since the homeopathic products had the word “homeopathic” on their labels and included a warning they hadn’t been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
“We do not find it facially implausible that a reasonable customer could believe, based on appellees’ placement of homeopathic drug products alongside FDA-approved over-the-counter drugs, that homeopathic products are comparably efficacious,” the court said.
Center for Inquiry was represented by its legal director, Nicholas Little.