Venable partner Angel A. Garganta was interviewed in a February 4, 2015 Natural Products Insider article on how supplement manufacturers should defend against class actions. In general, it is recommended that manufactures retain an attorney to review labels before marketing their products and identify potential areas vulnerable to litigation.
"How do you avoid class-action exposure? The way you avoid it is by making sure your products, your labeling and your advertising comply with FDA and the other regulations, and your claims are well substantiated," said Garganta.
Discussing ways to fend off a class action suit, Garganta said, "Class-action lawsuits come in phases. One of the things that tends to be the case is that you often will get a pre-litigation demand letter from the plaintiff’s counsel, saying 'we think you have done this, that and the other thing to misrepresent your products or make false claims'…The demand letter is sometimes an opportunity to demonstrate the plaintiffs’ lawyers don’t have their facts right and avoid the lawsuit that way." Referring to the certification of the class, Garganta said, "The reality is your risk has gone up exponentially…In my experience, the defendants rarely want to gamble on trying a false advertising consumer products class action."