Standing Out

Last month we brought you word of an excellent result (preemption) in a ridiculous case − a class action claiming that the drops in eye-drops are too big. That decision was in accord with an earlier decision likewise dismissing such claims on preemption grounds. See Thompson v. Allergan USA, Inc., 993 F. Supp.2d 1007 (E.D. Mo. 2014) (discussed here).

However, there is another ground on which these bottom-feeding actions have been dismissed – lack of sufficient injury to support standing. After all, the concept of some sort of ideal "price" for a product, above which it is improper to charge is a will-o-wisp, apparently knowable only to plaintiff-side experts (just ask them, they'll tell you). This is called "benefit of the bargain" by such experts. Courts tend to use a different description – "absurd."

[Plaintiff] received the drug she was prescribed, the drug did the job it was meant to do . . ., and it caused no apparent physical injuries. Under such circumstances, there could be no ascertainable loss. . . . The Court believes Plaintiffs' proposed liability theory, which requires no demonstrable loss of any benefit, would lead to absurd results and holds that Plaintiffs fail to state a claim as a matter of law.

In re Avandia Marketing Sales Practices & Products Liability Litigation, 639 F. Appx. 866, 869 (3d Cir. 2016) (citations and quotation marks omitted), affirming, 100 F.Supp.3d 441, 446 (E.D. Pa. 2015), also holding "absurdity is inherent in the nature of Plaintiff's claimed loss" because it was "based only on the idea that [the product] is inherently worth some unspecified amount less than whatever Plaintiff might have paid for it").

That was essentially how the Seventh Circuit reacted to these same eye drop allegations in Eike v. Allergan, Inc., 850 F.3d 315 (7th Cir. 2017) (discussed here). We described the absurd theory that the plaintiffs were pursuing in our Eike post, and because we're lazy, we'll simply repeat that here:

The plaintiffs sued pharmaceutical manufacturers of eye drops used for the treatment of glaucoma because the drops were bigger than they needed to be. The theory is that the plaintiffs were paying more than they would have if the drops were smaller. The plaintiffs alleged no conspiracy among the defendants. This was not an antitrust case. . . . Nor did the plaintiffs allege any misrepresentations. Rather, the plaintiffs simply sought, because they thought it would be less expensive, a smaller dose product that nobody made.

The Seventh Circuit essentially agreed: "The fact that a seller does not sell the product that you want, or at the price you'd like to pay, is not an actionable injury; it is just a regret or disappointment − which is all we have here, the class having failed to allege 'an invasion of a legally protected interest.'" 850 F.3d at 318 (citations omitted). Accord Carter v. Alcon Laboratories, Inc., 2014 WL 989002, at *4-5 (E.D. Mo. March 13, 2014) (also dismissing identical claim for lack of any cognizable injury).

Apparently, however, the inherent triviality of that claim is no deterrent to today's class action lawyers, who seem to have nothing better to do than measure the comparative value of eye drop drips. After several attempts, they seem to have found a couple of judges credulous enough to allow one of these non-injury cases to survive – at least on the standing/injury issue. That's today's case, Cottrell v. Alcon Labs, ___ F.3d ___, 2017 WL 4657402 (3d Cir. Oct. 18, 2017). Looking to the "scientific consensus on eye drop size," the majority is...