WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) — A grandmother who purchased Abbott's PediaSure Grow and Gain for her grandson alleges Abbott deceptively markets the drink as clinically proven to increase children's height.
Joanne Noriega on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated, filed a complaint May 15 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Abbott Laboratories alleging violation of New York Business Law and other claims.
Noriega, according to her complaint, purchased PediaSure Grow and Gain Vanilla and Strawberry drinks for her eight-year-old grandson. She claims that after a year of drinking two PediaSure drinks per day, her grandson was still "short for his age" and that he had become so overweight, he had to stop drinking the PediaSure.
Noriega claims she purchased the drinks reasonably believing her grandson's height-to-weight would change and that she would not have purchased the product if she had known it was not clinically proven to increase height. She alleges Abbott deceptively markets the PediaSure Grow and Gain with "a microscopic" asterisk and statement on the product's bottle that its claims are based on "children at risk of malnutrition."
Noriega also alleges Abbott's claim that the product helps children grow is misleading and the reports cited by the company about the PediaSure success are based on children studied in third-world countries who suffer malnutrition.
Noriega seeks monetary relief, interest, trial by jury and all other just relief. She is represented by James Denlea, Jeffrey Carton, Steven Schoenfeld and Stan Sharovskiy of Denlea & Carton LLP in White Plains, New York and Phillip Smith of Kravitt Smith LLP in White Plains, New York.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York case number 1:23-CV-04014