SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Class action lawyers want control of litigation against Nestle that claims consumers falsely believe Boost Glucose Control nutrition drinks help manage diabetes.
Attorneys at Kaplan Fox and Milberg Coleman and The Rothenberg Law Firm asked a California federal judge on Feb. 8 to be named lead counsel for cases that are likely to be consolidated.
Milberg Coleman filed its case in December 2021 in California's Northern District, while Kaplan Fox filed its in New Jersey in May 2022.
Nestle's motion to dismiss was granted in the California case but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed, while a similar motion in New Jersey was pending when the case was transferred to California.
"Based on their experience in other similarly sized class and mass actions, Co-Lead Counsel understand and are ready to commit the substantial resources, including personnel, time, facilities, and funding, needed to litigate these cases from start to finish," the motion says.
"Milberg Coleman and Kaplan Fox... have decades of experience between them and specifically have vast knowledge of consumer protection statutes and related claims."
Steven Owen, the New Jersey plaintiff, is a diagnosed diabetic who purchased the defendant's Boost Glucose Control from Amazon in April of 2022. He claims the over-the-counter Boost Glucose Control products are falsely labeled as "designed for people with diabetes" and sold as "nutritional drinks."
Specifically, Owen claims that by his "own clinical trial," the products were found to only cause a "merely" lesser rise in glucose levels as compared to another nutritional drink. He claims the products do not control glucose but only "produce a slightly favorable response to glucose levels despite Nestle implying the drinks help in the prevention and control of diabetes, which is deceptive.
He alleges the drink's label stating the product "helps manage blood sugar" leads customers to reasonably believe the product will control blood sugar levels.