I have never sued anyone ever, so I am hoping someone on the forum can offer me some assistance or guidance. Anyone who knows me, knows that my health is of utmost importance - and I have gone to great lengths to live a natural, healthy lifestyle.

I take only natural vitamins and supplements. It turns out a "Natural" supplement I have been taking for probably four years, that is labeled as garlic/papaya enzymes, is not so natural. It contains a high-potency, PRESCRIPTION only, loop-diuretic. As a result of reading about some NFL players who uncovered this when they were drug tested, I went to my doctor and asked her to test my blood for this drug. This drug showed up in my blood in a fairly high doseage. I am so pissed (no pun intended - get it, a diuretic!).

The attorney that is leading the class action lawsuit has said if they pull the football players out of the class action lawsuit due to the size of their damages, asked if I would consider being a plaintiff in the suit. I have not done anything yet and quite honestly, not sure what I should do. Does anyone have any suggestions, advice, referrals? We have so many highly skilled and educated people here, thought maybe someone may be able to offer a suggestion. It is just not legal or right that a company can get away with putting something like this in an over-the-counter natural supplement. This drug to some people can have severe side effects, health consequences, and interactions with other medications.

Anyone ever sued or been a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit before?

 

If someone else is suing for a legitimate reason of deteriorated health, I think you should go to bat for them. I wish you the best, and hope no side affects appear.

John

 

greta,

i'm really sorry to hear this happened to you. =( i wish i had some advice or could help you in some way. if there is anything that i can do to help, please let me know. i hope everything works out okay in the end for you.

 

Sorry I can't help much, but I can give you as much moral support as possible. I think it is the right thing to go after this. There are many people out there that are likely just as affected as you and do not have the ability to lead the campaign like you do.

Best of luck in what you decide.

 

Commercially available papain, a mixture of proteolytic enzymes, is the active ingredient in meat tenderizers; it softens the meat by partially digesting the proteins. Contained in contact lens cleansers, dentifrices, and cosmetics, the enzyme is also used to clarify beer. Papain is available in FDA-approved topical preparations as an enzymatic debridement for necrotic tissue in burns, ulcers, and other wounds. A specific purified fraction, chymopapain, is approved for chemonucleosis (the treatment of herniated intervertebral discs by injection), which has largely fallen out of favor due to allergic and other adverse reactions.
As an herbal dietary supplement, oral papain is most often recommended as a digestive aid (especially with proteinrich meals) and for dyspepsia. Papaya preparations have also been used traditionally for inflammatory disorders, hemorrhoids, intestinal worms, diarrhea, tumors, and respiratory infections. It is used in some cultures to induce abortion and labor, and is employed topically for psoriasis

, ringworm, wounds, ulcers, and infections.

it sounds to be so good for you to sue them about...

 

I've been a party in several class action lawsuits and my experience has been the lawyers get all the money and you get little, if anything. As long as it doesn't cost you anything go for it.

 

Exactly my thoughts, if you want to pursue this, then I would do it only if it is a just cause, if it is making people sick, etc, otherwise you're only helping the lawyer get rich.

 

Greta,

The problem will be proving that you were somehow damaged or harmed. The labeling on these pills probably read "no RDA information from the FDA" and no guarantees and etc... so if you weren't physically injured through taking them and stopped because of the amount of the stuff in your system, and nothing has gone wrong with you physically, then it's probably an expensive trip to nowhere.

SY

 

Thanks for your thoughts on this everyone. There is an attorney heading up a class action lawsuit on behalf of five NFL players who have been banned from the NFL for four games because they took this supplement and it showed up in their drug tests. I have talked to this attorney several times now and at this point I am piggy backing off of this if it remains a class action situation. I understand that supplements are not regulated, but to put a prescription only medicine into a natural over the counter product is very dangerous. It is the principal of this that I am angry about and would like to see things changed.

 

That's great Greta. Go get'em. It's people like you that keep people honest! Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

 

We will talk about it this week. Sarah has worked on a couple of class action cases. Just know, you will never really see any money. The lawyers take most of it, then what is left over goes into a trust, that is given out to all the plaintiffs.

I would be pissed! I totally feel you, I was taking quite a bit of supplements when I was bike racing, & one was not as good as it advertised & had some bad stuff in it.

 

Now it all explains why your car was so dirty yesterday. Your all messed up inside. I get it now.

Unfortunately I agree with the majority lots of time when truthfully they'll come back with nothing for you. With these otc's the bottom line is someone somewhere will tell you that you should have researched better and that it's your own problem for taking it.

That's why I stick to the "real naturals" Donuts and 3 star Chicken pad thai. Also anything Japanese made by my woman.

 

^^^LOL, I knew you would appreciate my dirty car. I will blame it on the supplements - good excuse. You are Caryl are just adorable Mark. She is really beautiful and so nice. Are we going to have any announcements about you two in the near future (and you know what kind of announcement I mean!)?

Regarding a class action lawsuite, I am not looking for any compensation to me, but I do want to see supplements regulated to prevent potential serious health consequences. Health is something I am passionate about and just want to do something to make some changes in this part of the industry.

 

When there's 25 million plaintiffs in a class-action suit sharing a $100m settlement, the only people that see any real money are the attorneys and the lead plaintiff(s).

Greta, what you need to do if possible is get yourself assigned a lead plaintiff with the NFL players. This might require you share some of the risk (ie losing money if the suit fails) I am not sure about this (IANAL!).

If the players end up the sole lead-plaintiffs, then there's really not much benefit to joining the suit, but there's no harm either -- in a couple of years you might find a check for $25 in your mail. Some class action lawsuits can be very fruitful (eg some of the ex-Microsoft contractors received checks for $50k+).

There does NOT have to be any significant actual damages. (ie you do NOT have to have had any ill effects from taking the medication). They broke the law -- the punitive damages awarded (thanks to the American system of taking 12 random idiots and letting them pull a figure from their collective *****) can be significant.

Also, you do NOT need to be part of the class-action settlement suit at all. You can sue them yourself. First thing to find out is whether they have any assets at all ? No point suing them if they're already bankrupt or about to go bankrupt. Then ask yourself if you have the stomach for siginficiant legal expenses to pursue them. This is one avenue that can get you "lead plaintiff" status; your case may be amalgamated into the other NFL players case.

The WHOLE class-action suit system in this country makes a compelling argument for tort reform...

Good luck whichever path you choose.

 

The attorney has asked me to be a lead plaintiff if the NFL players end up suing on their own due to the size of their damage claims. HOWEVER, it turns out this company has hardly any insurance and has been shut down. Sounds like it may not be worth pursuing but perhaps there are other ways to see that this industry gets regulations. I think I found another cause to work on.!