Santa Clara, CA: A consumer fraud class action lawsuit has been filed against television celebrity Dr. Oz and Labrada Bodybuilding Nutrition Inc., alleging claims that weight loss products made by the defendants are false and misleading.
Filed by Vera Woodard of California, the lawsuit states she was tricked into buying a number of nutritional products sold by former bodybuilding champion Lee Labrada' company, because they contained "magic ingredients"purported to be "revolutionary fat busters"by Dr. Mehmet C. Oz during his daytime talk show. In fact, the lawsuit asserts, the pills are worthless with little scientific evidence they promote weight reduction.
"As a renowned surgeon at Columbia University with specialized medical and scientific knowledge, Dr. Oz knew that the claims he was making about the supplements being 'miracle fat busters' were patently false or misleading consumers,"the lawsuit states. "Dr. Oz concealed his fraud by affirmatively representing to consumers that he was giving his objective opinion about the products based on his specialized knowledge."
According to the suit, Woodard bought the Labrada Garcinia Cambogia Dual Action Fat Buster, the Labrada Green Coffee Bean Extract Fat Loss Optimizer and the Labrada Raspberry Ketones Metabolic Enhancer products sometime around June 2013, paying between $15 and $20 a bottle, after she saw episodes of "The Doctor Oz Show"in which he promoted those herbal supplement ingredients as being "miracles in a bottle"when it comes to weight loss.
However, the lawsuit contends that while Dr. Oz regularly reminds audiences that he' not attempting to sell any products, he does not mention that some of his "nutritional expert"special guests are in fact paid spokespeople for certain supplement products.
By way of example, the lawsuit cites an episode in which the weight-loss benefits of garcinia cambogia, were discussed. Dr. Oz introduced a guest doctor as being at the forefront of "revolutionary research that says garcinia could be the magic ingredient that lets you lose weight without diet and exercise,"yet that doctor turned out to be a paid researcher for Interhealth Neutrceuticals Inc., which is also named defendant in the suit, according to the complaint.
Additionally, the suit states that studies published by the Journal of the American Medical Association and other publications have shown that garcinia cambogia and green coffee bean failed to produce any significant weight loss, and there is zero evidence showing that raspberry ketones can help trim fat.
Woodward seeks to represent a nationwide class consumers who were duped into buying "worthless"weight loss supplements containing garcinia cambogia, green coffee bean extract and raspberry ketones from the Labrada and others.
Woodard is represented by Ronald A. Marron, Skye Resendes and Michael T. Houchin of the Law Offices of Ronald A. Marron.
The case is Veda Woodard v. Lee Labrada et al., case number 2:16-cv-00717, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
