Class Action
A class action is a legal device allowing one person to sue as a plaintiff on behalf of all persons likely to have experienced the same injury. In other words, the others are in a substantially similar circumstance where the common issues are the most critical to the lawsuit.
The class action promotes two principal goals. It provides a useful mechanism for prosecuting the claims of many persons whose injuries added together are significant, but which, individually, would not be large enough to justify the expense of bringing of individual lawsuits. Typical class actions involve hundreds, thousands or millions of people who have comparable claims. Class action "certification" permits all claims to be heard in a single trial. We have a broad range of class action experience and expertise. The following list is some of the class actions our firm is currently involved in:
Shoprite Fat Free Half & Half
Eichen Crutchlow & McElroy filed a class action lawsuit against Wakefern Food Corp., on behalf of purchasers of ShopRite Fat Free Half & Half. The lawsuit alleges that Wakefern, the distributor of ShopRite Fat Free Half & Half, misrepresented the product as half-and-half, when in fact it is primarily a mixture of milk and corn syrup. By mislabeling and associating its sugared milk product with traditional “half-and-half,” Wakefern mislead consumers into believing they were purchasing half-and-half.
Metro Honda
Eichen Crutchlow & McElroy filed a class action lawsuit against Metro Honda, a car dealership located in New Jersey. The complaint alleges that Metro Honda engaged in a fraudulent marketing scheme to lure customers into its showrooms by mailing New Jersey residents a sweepstakes notification, indicating that they had won $10,000 in a “Grand Prize Giveaway.” When recipients arrived at the dealership to collect their prize, Metro Honda refused to honor the sweepstakes notification.
Pep Boys Auto Service Centers
Eichen Crutchlow & McElroy filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against Pep Boys Auto Service Centers alleging that it advertised motor vehicle oil change services for $19.99 as part of a plan or scheme not to sell said services at the advertised price. This action seeks redress for consumers who purchased oil changes and were charged more than the advertised price.
Wellpoint
Eichen Crutchlow & McElroy filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against Wellpoint, the nation's largest health insurer, for allegedly under reimbursing subscribers for out-of-network services. The complaint alleges that Wellpoint knowingly created and used flawed data which was maintained in a database owned by Ingenix, Inc. to set artificially low reimbursement rates for out-of-network services.
Countrywide Financial Services Corporation
Eichen Crutchlow & McElroy filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against Countrywide Financial Services Corp. concerning a massive data breach of consumer financial information. The complaint alleges that a Countrywide employee downloaded the private financial information of millions of customers, and then sold that information to a third party, putting those customers at risk for identity theft.
Vytorin & Zetia
Eichen Crutchlow & McElroy filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals, alleging that the cholesterol lowering drugs, Vytorin and Zetia, were marketed as being more effective than other anti-cholesterol drugs, and were sold at higher prices when they were no more effective than less expensive anti-cholesterol drugs.
A proposed settlement has been reached for $41,500,000 in which Consumers will share $12,450,000 and Third Party Payors will share $14,525,000. Barry Eichen, Esq. the managing partner of Eichen Crutchlow & McElroy, sat on the Vytorin Steering Committee.
Intron Franchise Drugs
Eichen Crutchlow & McElroy filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals, alleging that the defendant's Intron Franchise Drugs were marketed off-label (without FDA approval) for indications they were either ineffective, or no more effective than cheaper generic substitutes. The complaint alleges that the defendant's illegal off-label marketing scheme caused consumers and insurance plans to pay more for these drugs than they otherwise would have.
Baxter International Inc.
On July 24, 2009, Eichen Crutchlow & McElroy LLP, filed a complaint on behalf of Solaris Health Systems Inc., and a class of all persons and entities in the United States who directly purchased Plasma-Derivative Therapies from defendants: Baxter International Inc., CSL Limited, and CSL Behring LLC. Plasma Derivative products are essential for treating a number of serious illnesses, including cancer and immune deficiency diseases. The gravamen of the complaint contends that sinking profits prompted Baxter and CSL to unlawfully conspire to reduce supply and fix prices of various Plasma Derivative products. As a result, Plaintiff and the other purchasers of plasma products (class) paid artificially inflated prices for Plasma Derivative Therapies. Defendant’s unlawful conduct caused a nationwide shortage of these life saving products.
