Complete MoisturePlus
Complaint Charges Consumers Have Been Misled Into Purchasing Brand Name Product Identical To Less Expensive Solution Manufactured By AMO for COSTCO
December 22, 2008, Santa Ana, CA – The Schmidt Firm, LLP in Dallas, Texas announced today that Southern California-based Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. (“AMO”) was named as the defendant in a consumer fraud and false advertising class action lawsuit. The case, Maria Ruiz v. Advanced Medical Optics, et. al, was filed Monday in California State Superior Court in Orange County. Maria Ruiz brought the complaint on her behalf and on behalf of all California consumers who purchased AMO’s Complete Multipurpose Solution Easy Rub Formula (“Easy Rub”), a contact lens cleaning and disinfection product.
The class action complaint alleges that beginning around August 2007, AMO launched the Easy Rub product as a replacement for its Complete MoisturePlus contact lens solution, which the company had been forced to recall on a global basis in May 2007. That recall followed a report by the Centers for Disease Control linking Complete MoisturePlus to an outbreak of serious corneal infections known as Acanthamoeba keratitis. AMO is currently facing several hundred products liability cases and claims brought by consumers who developed the sight-threatening disease after using Complete MoisturePlus.
AMO advertised the Easy Rub formula as “new” and “unique” when the product was introduced to the market in 2007. However, Ruiz’ complaint alleges Easy Rub actually contains an old formula which AMO has been using for years to manufacture a so-called “private label” solution for retail giant Costco under its Kirkland Signature brand. The Kirkland product is significantly less expensive than Easy Rub even though the formulas are identical. The complaint charges that AMO’s failure to disclose the origins of the Easy Rub formula and its claim that the formula is “new” or “unique” constitutes false and misleading advertising under California law.
The complaint further alleges that marketing claims made by AMO suggesting that Easy Rub provides “enhanced protection” against Acanthamoeba infections are also false and misleading. The disinfectant ingredient contained in Easy Rub, the lawsuit contends, is not effective against Acanthamoeba organisms, and the complaint charges that AMO’s marketing “inappropriately give[s] consumers and eye care professionals a false sense of security regarding the risk of developing Acanthamoeba infections.”
The class action complaint seeks a variety of remedies against AMO, including the return of money consumers used to purchase Easy Rub, as well as changes to labeling and advertising for the product.
In addition to The Schmidt Firm, LLP, the Plaintiff is represented by Moore Labriola LLP and Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson LLP, both located in Newport Beach, California, along with Moscone, Emblidge & Quadra, in San Francisco and Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, in California and New York.
Do I Have a Lawsuit?
If you or a loved one have developed a corneal infection (keratitis) while using any contact lens solution, you should contact us immediately. You may be entitled to compensation and we can help.
On September 9, 2008, Injury Help Network law firms, Schmidt & Clark, LLP and Moore Labriola, LLP filed an additional 14 lawsuits against Advanced Medical Optics due to defects in the Company’s now-recalled Complete® MoisturePlus™ contact lens solution.
Read Full Article: Second Wave of Vision Loss Lawsuits Filed Against Advanced Medical Optics Over Recalled Contact Lens Solution
The new lawsuits allege that the consumers developed serious corneal infections when AMO’s solution failed to disinfect against the harmful parasite Acanthamoeba. AMO recalled the product in May 2007 after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) linked the solution to a large number of Acanthamoeba infections. This past June, CDC researchers presented additional data that showed that the product is ineffective against the Acanthamoeba parasite. The Food and Drug Administration also announced that it may recommend new testing and labeling guidelines to ensure that future products are effective against the parasite and that manufacturers better inform consumers about the risk of Acanthamoeba infections.
Do I Have a Complete MoisturePlus or Acanthamoeba Keratitis Lawsuit?
If you or a loved one have developed a corneal infection (keratitis) while using any multi-purpose contact lens solution, you should contact usimmediately. You may be entitled to compensation.
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A woman who underwent seven corneal transplants after contracting a devastating eye infection encouraged a panel of FDA consultants Tuesday to recommend to the Agency that it immediately strengthen testing and labeling requirements for contact lens disinfectant solutions.
Sheila Kinsey addressed a packed meeting of the FDA Ophthalmic Advisory Committee, a group of eye doctors and scientists appointed to make recommendations to FDA about the safety of multipurpose contact lens solutions. The FDA meeting came a year after Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. recalled Complete® MoisturePlus™ lens solution from the market after the Centers for Disease Control linked the product to corneal infections caused by a parasite known as Acanthamoeba.
Kinsey said she first developed an Acanthamoeba infection in 2001 after using a multipurpose solution to disinfect her soft contact lenses. The single mother of two lost vision in the infected eye and was forced to relocate without her family from Los Angeles to Iowa City, Iowa where Acanthamoeba specialists have been trying to prevent her from losing the affected eye. Six of the seven new corneas transplanted into her eye were either rejected or became reinfected by the parasite.
Kinsey said she and many other people became infected with the bug because the disinfectant in her contact lens solution was ineffective against Acanthamoeba. In May of 2007, a CDC study identified an outbreak of Acanthamoeba infections in contact lens wearers who used multipurpose solutions. The majority of the victims reported using Complete® MoisturePlus™.
At the meeting on Tuesday, FDA and CDC researchers presented the results of investigations showing that many lens solutions have little or no affect against Acanthamoeba, and asked the advisory panel to make recommendations on making solutions safer for consumers. The committee overwhelmingly recommended new pre-market testing guidelines as well as the strengthening of product labels and increased consumer education.
Thomas M. Moore, of the Newport Beach, California law firm Moore Labriola LLP, also addressed the panel. Moore, who along with Michael Schmidt of The Schmidt Firm in Dallas, Texas and Schmidt & Clark, LLP represents dozens of Acanthamoeba victims in litigation against Advanced Medical, the maker of Complete® MoisturePlus™, encouraged FDA to require solutions to be effective against Acanthamoeba and to make manufacturers clearly warn about the risk of infection. “There is an opportunity for FDA to change the direction of the contact lens care industry, and by so doing, make contact lens wear substantially safer for millions of Americans,” said Moore.
Source: Schmidt & Clark, LLP Press Release
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