SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - Amazon must face a proposed class action that says its brand of melatonin tablets and gummies mislabels the amount of the sleep aid in each.
Seattle federal judge John Coughenour on March 16 denied Amazon's motion to dismiss the case, filed by plaintiff Shannon Mack through attorneys at Dovel & Luner. The case concerns Amazon's Solimo melatonin and whether each gummie or tablet contains the proper 5 milligram amount stated on the label.
Coughenour found Mack plausibly alleged her claims that she would not have paid as much for the product - or not bought it at all - if she knew the gummies and tablets contained more melatonin than stated.
"This is sufficient to allege a price injury," Coughenour wrote. "No more is required."
Coughenour rejected Amazon's argument that the FDA allows manufacturers to formulate supplements with some overages to ensure the finished product can be as strong as the label promises during the product's shelf life.
"But while the FDA allows for some overages, it does not intend to 'allow the manufacturer to add excess dietary ingredients in unspecified amounts that would be in excess of the amount actually needed to meet the label declaration,'" he wrote.
"Said another way, if a product's label falsely states the dosage, relative to this permissible excess, the product is mislabeled."