Miller v. Basic Research, LLC

285 F.R.D. 647, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 145163, 2010 WL 9038857
CourtDistrict Court, D. Utah
DecidedSeptember 2, 2010
DocketNo. 2:07-CV-871 TS
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 285 F.R.D. 647 (Miller v. Basic Research, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. Basic Research, LLC, 285 F.R.D. 647, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 145163, 2010 WL 9038857 (D. Utah 2010).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO CERTIFY THE CLASS AND DENYING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO STRIKE

TED STEWART, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiffs’ Motion to Certify the Class and Defendants’ Motion to Strike the declaration of Dr. Elaine Barrett. Plaintiffs propose class certification under Rule 23(b) for a nationwide class consisting of consumers who purchased Akavar 20/50. For the purposes of class certification, Plaintiffs allege violations of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), the Utah Pattern of Unlawful Activity Act (“UPUAA”), and the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act (“UCSPA”).1 For the reasons discussed below, the Court will grant Plaintiffs’ motion and deny Defendants’ motion.

I. Facts

Plaintiffs allege that Defendants operate a common business enterprise engaged in fraudulent and deceptive acts in relation to the marketing and advertising of Akavar.2 Plaintiffs allege that the common business enterprise is controlled by Defendants Gay, Mowrey and Friedlander.3

Plaintiff Pamela Miller is a resident of Gilbert, Arizona. Plaintiff Miller purchased Akavar during the summer of 2007 through Defendants’ website based on an advertisement she stumbled across on the internet with “EAT ALL YOU WANT & STILL LOSE WEIGHT,” in bold print.4 Plaintiff Miller alleges that after 25 days of taking Akavar as directed on the package labeling, she gained 10 pounds.5

Plaintiff Randy Howard is a resident of Morton, Illinois. Sometime around October 2007, he observed an Akavar in-store display, at a Wal-Mart, representing that users of Akavar could “Eat All You Want and Still Lose Weight.”6 Plaintiff Howard recalls the display stressed that users could lose weight without changing their eating habits.7 Plaintiff Howard asserts that he purchased Aka-var based on the representations on the display.8 He further alleges that after two weeks of taking Akavar as directed on the package labeling, and without changing his eating habits, he gained five or six pounds and stopped taking the supplement.9

Plaintiff Donna Patterson, is a resident of Washington, DC.10 Sometime around August 2007, Plaintiff Patterson alleges she observed an Akavar advertisement in a national women’s magazine.11 Plaintiff Patterson alleges the advertisement contained an image of a female model, touting Akavar as the new “European Weight Loss Breakthrough,” and stated that you could “Eat All You Want & Stül Lose Weight.”12

Defendants began marketing and selling Akavar in February 2007.13 Defendants state that, from the original introduction until the time the action was filed, Akavar’s marketing and advertisements have gone through several revisions so that the most recent version is “markedly” different than the original.14 De[652]*652fendants state, for example, that the presentation of the claim “Eat all you want and still lose weight,” changed from bold print to a passing representation in connection with skepticism and, as of the date of their memorandum, was not referenced at all.15

Although Defendants do not state the number of customers overall who have purchased Akavar, they do state that at least 20,006 of those who have purchased Akavar have requested and received cash refunds.16 Defendants state that at least 9,809 customers have been repeat purchasers.17 Defendants state that there would be “thousands upon thousands of proposed class members.” 18 Defendants state that although they used three principal websites to market and advertise Akavar they all contained the exact same content at any given time.19 Defendants state that other retailers also sold Akavar on their websites and that they were not responsible for the content on these third party websites.20

Defendant Basie Research is a limited liability company established under Utah law.21 Defendant Basic Research claims to be one of the largest neutraceutical companies in the United States with annual sales revenues in excess of $50 million.22 Defendant Basic Research develops, manufactures, and markets a variety of cosmetics, nutritional supplements, and dietary supplements each marketed under a variety of limited liability companies formed by Defendants, but controlled by Defendants Gay, Mowrey and Friedlan-der. Plaintiffs allege that Defendant Basie Research is affiliated with all of the limited liability companies that it markets its products under, and additionally does business under different trade names including: Western Holdings, Dynakor, NutraSport, Silver Sage, Klein-Beeker USA, Urban Biolo-gies, Alpha Gen Biotech, Sovage Dermalogic and Body Innoventions, AG Waterhouse and BAN. Plaintiffs allege that Defendant Basic Research creates a new limited liability company for each dietary supplement it manufactures, advertises, and sells to consumers, and that the employees of each are used interchangeably between them.

Plaintiffs allege that although Defendants asserted Akavar was a “New! European Weight Loss Breakthrough,” whose “results” were based on “scientific fact, documented by published medical findings,” and that “a team of doctors working in a recognized medical university discovered the potent calorie-restricting qualities,” Akavar was actually developed in Salt Lake City, Utah by Defendants’ own employees.23 Specifically, Plaintiffs allege that Defendant Mowrey is the “Director of Scientific Affairs,” that he does business as American Phytotherapy Research Laboratory, now DBM Enterprises, and that the sole purpose of such entity is to work for Defendants Gay, Friedlander and Basic Research.24 Accordingly, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants use the same or similar dietary supplement, make the same claims about each supplement and merely change the packaging and the entity it is marketed under.25 Moreover, Plaintiffs allege that all of Defendants products are based on the combination of the same herbs, guaraña, yer-ba mate and damiana, and a preliminary Danish study reported in 2001.26

In June of 2006, the United Stated Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a permanent injunction against all Defendants prohibiting the marketing and sale of alleged weight loss products unless competent and reliable scientific evidence support the claims [653]*653made about such products.27

Defendant Western Holdings licenses trademarks including, the phrase in question, “Eat All You Want & Still Lose Weight,” “and we couldn’t say it in print,” and “we couldn’t say it in print if it wasn’t true,” to Defendant Basic Research for the development and manufacturing of cosmetics, nutritional supplements and dietary supplements.28

II. Class Certification

1. Standard of Review

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Bluebook (online)
285 F.R.D. 647, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 145163, 2010 WL 9038857, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-basic-research-llc-utd-2010.