FDCPA

Say It Like You Don’t Mean It

False Advertising, FDCPA, FTC, ,

Washington, DC - October 11, 2009: An entrance to the Federal Trade Commission office building in downtown Washington, DC. The doorway features an ornate bronze grillwork depicting various commercial trade conveyances. This is one of the smaller side entrances. The FTC is a government agency that regulates consumer protection laws, antitrust laws, trademark registration, antitrust laws, and other trade and commerce issues.

** The FTC Weighs In On OTC Homeopathic Drugs With New Disclosure Requirements **                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

By: Brent E. Johnson

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

This past Tuesday, the FTC issued its brand new Enforcement Policy Statement on Marketing Claims for OTC Homeopathic Drugs.  In sum, the FTC is fine with homeopathic drug makers advertising and labeling their products as effective in treating certain conditions – as long as they prominently disclose that their products don’t really work.

As we’ve blogged about recently, homeopathy is the brainchild of  the German physician, Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), who divined the concept of “like cures like.”  As the FTC explains, “Homeopathy . . . is based on the view that disease symptoms can be treated by minute doses of substances that produce similar symptoms when provided in larger doses to healthy people.”  In what has become the subject of much controversy over time, homeopathy made its way into the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938.  The FDCA defines drugs to include “articles recognized in the . . . official Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States.  (‘HPUS’)”  21 U.S.C. § 321(g)(1)(A).  The HPUS is a weighty tome first published in 1897 that sets forth standards for manufacturing homeopathic drugs as dictated by the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia Convention of the United States.  Just how homeopathic remedies became “drugs” under the FDCA is shrouded in the mists of time, but it is generally accepted that New York Senator Royal Copeland, a homeopath, family physician, and sponsor of the FDCA, had a hand in it.

In 1988, the FDA issued its Compliance Policy Guide (CPG) for homeopathic drugs titled, “Conditions Under Which Homeopathic Drugs May be Marketed.”  The CPG allows homeopathic drug makers to sell OTC products without demonstrating their efficacy.  CPG Sec. 400.400.  This allowance, however, applies only to homeopathic products intended for “self-limiting disease conditions” (i.e., medical problems that will go away on their own anyway) that are amenable to self-diagnosis and treatment.  The CPG mandates that OTC homeopathic drugs are labeled as “homeopathic” and that the labels display at least one major OTC indication for use.

The sale of homeopathic remedies has grown hand-in-hand with nutritional supplements over the past two decades.  Unlike supplements making nutritional deficiency, structure/function, or general well-being claims, however, the FDA does not require OTC homeopathic products to carry a disclaimer such as, “This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.  This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”  So, in the world of OTC homeopathic drugs, the FDA actually requires a use indication but doesn’t require substantiation or a disclaimer.

Enter the FTC.  Responding to pressure from consumer advocacy groups and, particular to this case, the Center for Inquiry (an organization that aims “to foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values”), the FTC issued its Enforcement Policy.  In it, the FTC impliedly acknowledges that, even though it has always had enforcement authority over homeopathic OTC drug makers, it has generally chosen not to police false or misleading advertising or labeling of their products due to the FDA’s 1988 CPG.  But no more!  Directly contradicting the CPG’s requirement of usage indications without the need to demonstrate efficacy, the FTC is announcing to homeopathic product makers everywhere that their products are not exempt “from the general requirement that objective product claims be truthful and substantiated.”

The FTC believes this will be no easy feat:  “For the vast majority of OTC homeopathic drugs, the case for efficacy is based solely on traditional homeopathic theories and there are no valid studies using current scientific methods showing the product’s efficacy.”  So what’s a homeopathic OTC drug manufacturer to do?  Just add to your product’s label (in close proximity to the FDA’s required efficacy indication or incorporated into it) that “(1) there is no scientific evidence that the product works and (2) the product’s claims are based only on theories of homeopathy from the 1700s that are not accepted by most modern medical experts.”  Simple enough (although try fitting it on a label).  But the FTC further warns, “In light of the inherent contradiction in asserting that a product is effective (the FDA’s requirement) and also disclosing that there is no scientific evidence for such an assertion, it is possible that depending on how they are presented many of these disclosures will be insufficient to prevent consumer deception.”  The FTC recommends that marketers conduct consumer surveys “to determine the net impressions communicated by their marketing materials.”  And to make sure there is no possible avenue of escape, the FTC includes this flourish:  “Marketers should not undercut such qualifications with additional positive statements or consumer endorsements reinforcing a product’s efficacy.”  In short, if you can’t say something bad about the product, say nothing at all.

No New Year Cheer For “Meaningless” Class Settlements

Certification, FDCPA, Rule 23, , , , , , ,

** Second Circuit Affirms Denial of Class Certification in Low Ball Settlement of New York Fair Debt Collection Suit **                                                                                                                      

By: Brent E. Johnson                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

A recent Second Circuit decision highlights the thorny issues involved in a “low dollar” class settlement.  In Gallego v. Northland Group Inc. No. 15-1666-CV (2d Cir. Feb. 22, 2016), Gallego, along with about 100,000 New York residents, received a rather perky dunning letter from defendant collection agency Northland in January 2014 declaring, “IT’S A NEW YEAR WITH NEW OPPORTUNITIES!” and inviting Gallego to settle his debt with a department store credit card company.  Rather than heralding the new year by settling the claim, Gallego rang it in by bringing a putative class action lawsuit against Northland under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”).  The substance of the claim was dubious – attempting to bootstrap a technical violation of the New York City Administrative Code (not providing the name of an individual to contact) into a false representation or unfair or unconscionable means under the FDCPA.

Northland, apparently calculating that it was cheaper to settle than fight, entered into a proposed settlement with Gallego.  In addition to an attorneys’ fee cap of $35,000, Northland agreed to establish a settlement fund of $17,500 – approximately 1% of the net worth liability limit under the FDCPA.  Gallego would receive a $1,000 incentive fee and the remaining $16,500 would be distributed pro rata to class members who made a claim.  The proposed settlement dissolved if there were 50 opt outs – who could then bring individual actions under the FDCPA with statutory damages of $1,000 each plus attorney fees.

The district court denied class certification under Rule 23(b)(3) superiority observing that class members would receive 16.5 cents each while, if they brought individual actions, they might each recover $1,000 statutory damages and attorney fees. Gallego v. Northland Group Inc. 102 F.Supp.3d 506 (S.D.N.Y 2015).  The court opined that the prospects of a recovery measured in pennies would likely result in “mass indifference” among most class members who would be deterred from filing individual lawsuits or joining the class.  This could result in a few class members reaping a windfall from the settlement.  “The prospects of mass indifference, a few profiteers, and a quick fee to clever lawyers is hardly the intended outcome for Rule 23 class actions.”

On appeal, the Second Circuit agreed that the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying certification.  Gallego argued that it was unlikely that all 100,000 class members would make claims so the individual class member recovery would be higher (a particularly noteworthy admission given that because Northland sent the offending letters in the first place – individual notice was practical and would likely be effective in this case) – basically agreeing with the district court that there would be “mass indifference” to the settlement.  The Court of Appeals retorted, “An expected low participation rate is hardly a selling point for a proposed classwide settlement.”  The Second Circuit went even further, determining that the district court would have been right in doubting that Gallego would “fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class,” as required by Rule 23(a)(4) pointing out that the proposed settlement included a release – not only of class members’ FDCPA claims – but all “claims arising out of any of the facts, events, occurrences, acts or omissions complained of in the Lawsuit, or other related matters . . . relating to letters sent to them that are substantially similar to the letter” received by Gallego.

It is important to reiterate that the FDCPA provides for an individual right of action with statutory damages as well as attorney fees, which are often absent from general consumer protection statutes.  This made it easy for the district court to find that the class action lawsuit was not a superior method for resolving the dispute given the proposed settlement value.  Nevertheless, the district court’s “a plague on both your houses” conclusion on class certification serves up a cautionary note:  “Because I find that certifying a class would do little more than turn [Nortland’s] settlement with Mr. Gallego into a general release of liability from all similarly situated plaintiffs at minimal extra cost while furthering a cottage industry among enterprising lawyers, class certification is denied.”