Consumer Fraud Archive

Forget Oprah, We Had Lance Armstrong’s Number Years Ago!

January 19th, 2013. By AbiK

Gotta say…Lance, Lance, we knew you when, big guy…

When you still thought you had a prayer in you-know-what of beating this whole thing. But we knew you…didn’t.

See, our readers know that if you want to know if something, or someone, is a scam, you come here first.

Not that we take pleasure in having a few back slaps and high-fives by the water cooler at the expense of someone’s demise. Well, actually, in this case we do (though we don’t, actually, have a water cooler).

While many out there were still trying to cut Lance some slack, we knew his ride was pretty much over. And we knew he hadn’t been getting that ‘peak performance’ from a freakin’ bottle of FRS Energy Drink. C’mon Lance…could it have been the performance enhancing drugs? Oh right—Oprah already coaxed that one out of you.

As LawyersandSettlements.com’s senior legal correspondent Jane Mundy—who first reported on the FRS Energy Drink false advertising allegations in September 2010—said at the time:

“It’s hard to believe that Lance Armstrong, FRS poster boy, would be associated with any false advertising. Or is it?”

Uh, no Jane, apparently it’s not!

Jane went on to share with one of Lance’s hoodwinked supporters that not only was Lance lying through his teeth about any performance benefits coming from 19g of sugar, but he was also getting paid for it—hello disclosure—not only as an FRS spokesperson, but also as a member of the FRS board of directors! Make that check out to “Lance Armstrong” please…

Post-script, FRS dropped Lance. Regardless of whatever claims the makers of FRS may make, they’re no fools: bye-bye Lance.

Oh, and speaking of FRS, they’ve got another little post-script—an FRS false advertising class action lawsuit that’s recently been filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court (12/5/12). Only now, as Bevnet reports, it’s FRS Healthy Slim that’s in the cross-hairs. Guess someone wasn’t magically dropping those pounds.

Well, Lance may have been living strong and feeding us all some dope about his performance. But we never bought it.

Tags: Consumer Fraud, false advertising, FRS Energy Drink, Lance Armstrong
Posted in Celebrity, Class Action, Consumer Fraud, Emerging Issues | 2 Comments »

Must See: Stephen Colbert Explains Vitamin Water Lawsuit!

January 18th, 2013. By AbiK

 

Remember the Coca-Cola Vitamin Water class action lawsuit? Well, it’s still out there—and there was even a copycat class action filed in Canada. But no one can quite shed light on the allegations involved in the Vitamin Water lawsuits quite the way Stephen Colbert can—so if you missed his show on Monday (1/14/13), check out the video above.

For an additional laugh, here’s what’s on Coke’s website—on their “Coca-Cola Journey” section—in response to the initial class action filing. Hard to believe this was written by someone old enough to have working papers. Read on—and no, it’s not a joke—this is really published on the Coke website:

The glacéau vitaminwater lawsuit is a ridiculous and ludicrous lawsuit. glacéau vitaminwater is a great tasting, hydrating beverage with essential vitamins and water, with labels showing calorie content.

Filing a lawsuit is an opportunistic PR stunt. This is not about protecting the public interest. This is about grandstanding at a time when CSPI is receiving very little attention. There is no surprise that one week before the inauguration of the U.S. President, with the flurry of activity in Washington, D.C., that CSPI has chosen today to try to bring attention to themselves.

We don’t need a “healthful” alternative to sodas. All our beverages, including sparkling and diets, can be part of healthful diet. Furthermore, consumers today are aware and are looking for more from their beverages than just hydration. Products like glacéau vitaminwater provide a great tasting choice for hydration that also helps contribute to daily needs for some essential nutrients.

Consumers can readily see the nutrition facts panels on every bottle of glacéau vitaminwater, which show what’s in our product and what’s not. The success of glacéau vitaminwater is due in large part to consumers looking for a product like this to help support their healthy, active and on-the-go lifestyle.

Put simply, glacéau vitaminwater is a great complement to our often less-than-perfect diet with each of the different glacéau vitaminwater varieties providing a convenient, great-tasting way to get more of some of the vitamins and hydration we all need each day.

No joke folks.

 

Tags: Class Action Lawsuit, Coca-Cola, Coke, Consumer Fraud, false advertising, Glaceau, Stephen Colbert, Vitamin Water, VitaminWater
Posted in Class Action, Consumer Fraud, Emerging Issues, lawsuits | 2 Comments »

NY’ers Mad Subway Isn’t Giving Full 12-Inch Footlongs

January 17th, 2013. By AbiK

There’s new meaning to being mad at the subway in NYC—and it’s got nothing to do with platform closures or delays.

No, some folks are mad at Subway—the sub sandwich restaurant chain that’s made “footlong” a part of our lunchtime lexicon. They’re mad because they’ve taken a tape measure to those Subway footlong subs and found (shock!) that in a random test, 4 out of 7 footlongs were, in fact, only 11 or 11.5 inches.

Yes, a NY Post discovery reveals that those footlong subs may be falsely advertised. Usually, such egregious findings have the potential to lead to a consumer fraud class action lawsuit being filed. None has apparently been filed yet—not surprising given New Yorkers’ capacity to roll with the daily barrage of life’s nuisances.

The fraudulent footlong story first became a viral hit when Matt Corby, of Australia, posted a photo measuring his footlong—and it coming up short at 11 inches—on his Facebook page (where else? see image above). According to the Post, the FB post got 118,000 likes in 24 hours. That FB post then led the NY Post to traipse around three boroughs buying footlongs and measuring them—the aforementioned ‘test’.

Now, you may think, “so what?” But the NY Post took things a step further and calculated the impact of missing that 12th inch on a consumer who purchases a footlong every other day for a year, at $7 per footlong. They estimated that short-changing customers that inch of sandwich equates to about a $100 loss. That’s about 44 rides on the real subway!

According to the Post, Les Winogad, a spokesman for Subway, said the photo on Corby’s Facebook page “doesn’t meet our standards.” Newsflash: it doesn’t meet New Yorkers standards either. Or anyone else’s.

Tags: Consumer Fraud, false advertising, Footlong, Subway
Posted in Consumer Fraud, Emerging Issues | No Comments »

Watchdog Goes After Portable Bed Rails Citing Deaths

November 28th, 2012. By AbiK

Consumer watchdog group, Public Citizen has asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to order Bed Handles, Inc. —makers of portable bed rails used by the elderly or infirm—to stop its deceptive advertising practices.

According to a letter sent by Public Citizen to the FTC, Bed Handles claims its Bedside Assistant bed handles are safe—”[making] and bed a safer bed”. However, Public Citizen notes, the bed handles have been responsible for four deaths.

The Public Citizen request calls for:

1. An immediate ban the marketing of Bedside Assistant bed handles, model numbers BA10W and BA10W-6, manufactured by Bed Handles, Inc., because these devices have directly caused the deaths of at least four adult patients through entrapment and subsequent strangulation or positional asphyxia and therefore present “an unreasonable and substantial risk of illness or injury” …

2. An immediate order for Bed Handles, Inc. to recall all Bedside Assistant bed handles, model number BA10W and BA10W-6, that have been sold or distributed; and

3. An immediate investigation by the FTC to thoroughly assess the association between (a) the design and use of all similar bed handle or bed rail devices manufactured by Bed Handles, Inc. or any other manufacturer and (b) the risk of life-threatening injury or death due to entrapment and subsequent strangulation or positional asphyxia, and as appropriate, based on the result of this investigation, take action to ban the marketing of, and to recall, those devices that pose similar risks of death and injury as seen with Bedside Assistant bed handles.

At issue with the portable bed railings is that they can allegedly slip out of place thereby creating a gap between the railing and the mattress. An individual can become accidentally entrapped in the space between the mattress and the railing. Injury or death can occur as a result of the victim’s trachea being compressed against the bars of the bed railing, leading to strangulation.

The letter from Public Citizen to the FTC included a picture (above) of a caregiver showing how one of her patients had become trapped in the Bedside Assistant bed railing. The victim was found dead in that position.

According to the Public Citizen website, the FTC did acknowledge receipt of the letter. As of this writing, however, while the word “safe” does not appear on the Bed Handles Inc. website in reference to the portable bed railings, there has not been a recall. (Note, the Bed Handles website does reference “safer”–but it’s as it relates to the bed handles leaving “floor space clear”).

Tags: Bed Handles, Bed Rails, Consumer Fraud, Consumer Safety, Deceptive Advertising, FTC, Portable Bed Rails, Public Citizen
Posted in Complaints/Comments, Consumer Fraud, Defective Products | No Comments »

Sue Like A Lady: Skinnygirl Margarita Class Action Moves Forward

July 30th, 2012. By AbiK

That Skinnygirl class action lawsuit—the one about the much lusted-after ready-to-drink Skinnygirl Margarita—is moving ahead. The class action alleges false and misleading claims over the inclusion of sodium benzoate—a chemical preservative—as an ingredient while Skinnygirl manufacturer, Beam Inc. (which acquired Skinnygirl Cocktails from founder Bethenny Frankel) advertised the cocktail as “all natural”.

According to Skinnygirl class action (Case 1:11-cv-05149-NLH-KMW filed in U.S. District Court, District of NJ) court documents, plaintiffs Maureen Stewart and Kelly Lamicella took umbrage with Skinnygirl’s assertion that it’s a “healthy alternative to other commercial margarita products currently available”.

To some, there would seem to be a bit of incongruency—that someone concerned about “healthy alternatives” would have no issue slinging back what’s essentially a shot of tequila hiding out in some agave nectar, lime juice and triple sec. It does sort of beg the question of what’s worse on the system?—an onslaught of tequila or some sodium benzoate? Ask me in the morning, right?

To be fair, there have been reports indicating that sodium benzoate can become a carcinogen if mixed with some other substances, including vitamin C, which of course would be found in lime juice (and that necessary wedge of lime on the glass rim). And, Whole Foods did drop Skinnygirl Margarita from its stores after finding out sodium benzoate was present in the drink.

But the heart of the issue in the Skinnygirl class action—regardless of health or not—is: does the company falsely advertise its product? Does Skinnygirl Margarita contain all-natural ingredients as advertised, or not?

Beam sought to have the case dismissed based on the the plaintiffs’ allegation of unjust enrichment because the Skinnygirl Margaritas were purchased via a third party—i.e., a liquor store in NJ—not directly from Beam.

A claim of unjust enrichment is typically made when a company allegedly benefits (usually financially) from a false advertising claim. Alleged unjust enrichment is a claim in the current Hebrew National false advertising class action lawsuit—the plaintiffs claim Hebrew National benefitted unjustly by falsely calling their hot dogs “kosher” because the company could then charge a premium price over non-kosher hot dogs.

For the Skinnygirl lawsuit, District Judge Noel Hillman didn’t buy Beam’s motion to dismiss, so the class action’s moving ahead…

Tags: Beam Inc, Bethenny Frankel, Skinnygirl Class Action Lawsuit, Skinnygirl Margarita
Posted in Celebrity, Class Action, Consumer Fraud | 9 Comments »