Prop 65 Suit Leads to $1.5M Settlement

SANTA ROSA, Calif.A dietary supplement company will pay $1.5 million in civil penalties and court costs in a settlement related to a Proposition 65 lawsuit. The suit alleged Iovate Health Sciences Inc., a Canadian corporation, and its American affiliate, Iovate Health Sciences USA Inc., engaged in false and misleading advertising in connection with the marketing and sale of certain dietary supplement products, and violated Prop. 65 by failing to include a warning label on products that expose consumers to over one-half microgram of lead per day.

The settlement, signed in Napa County Superior Court, pertains to Iovate products marketed and sold throughout the state, and requires the Iovate companies to pay $1.2 million in civil penalties that will provide support for the future enforcement of California consumer protection laws. The agreement also provides for $300,000 in investigative costs. According to the Sonoma County District Attorney Office, it is the second largest multi-district attorney dietary supplement settlement of its kind in California history.

The deceptive advertising allegations in the lawsuit involved the following Iovate products: Accelis, nanoSLIM, Cold MD, Germ MD, EZ-Swallow Rapid-Tabs, Germ MD Effervescent Tablets, Allergy MD and Allergy MD Rapid-Tabs. Additionally, the lawsuit alleged Cold MD was an unapproved new drug, the sales and distribution of which are illegal under California law. The violation involving Californias Prop. 65 was based on laboratory results that revealed certain lots of Cold MD contained significantly more than one-half microgram of lead in a single dose of the product. Prop. 65 requires warning labels on all products containing more than one-half of a microgram of lead. Iovate stopped selling Cold MD in 2008.

For more information on what product manufacturers needs to know about Prop 65, check out this INSIDER article by Robin Koon. Several companies, such as Poms & Associates and Grifcon Enterprises, provide Prop. 65 insurance for companies should they ever face litigation similar to lovate.

Ten California counties (Sonoma, Alameda, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Orange, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta and Solano) brought the  lawsuit against the company.  These same counties also recently settled a suit involving weight management supplements that did not contain the labeled Hoodia.