DTO Law Secures Major Victory for Nature’s Bounty in Second Circuit Appeal

DTO Law attained a significant win for its client Nature’s Bounty in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The lawsuit, Baines et al. v. Nature’s Bounty (NY), Inc. et al., originated in the Eastern District of New York, where the plaintiff, Mashon Baines, alleged Nature’s Bounty’s supplement was falsely advertised as “fish oil” because the supplement was in ethyl ester form, as opposed to triglyceride form. The plaintiff class sought over $5 million in damages.

In February 2022, DTO filed a Motion to Dismiss, arguing, among other things, that plaintiffs had failed to plausibly allege that a reasonable consumer would be deceived by the label’s representation because the product was, in fact, created with fish oil, and no reasonable consumer knew or cared about the distinction in the purification processes used to transform the product from crude fish oil into ingestible, shelf-stable capsules. In January 2023, the Magistrate Judge issued a report and recommendation that wholly agreed and denied plaintiffs leave to amend, and the district judge later adopted the report in its entirety. Plaintiffs appealed to the Second Circuit.

Oral argument occurred in December 2023, during which DTO successfully defended Nature’s Bounty against these claims. A couple of weeks after argument, the court upheld the district court’s decision, emphasizing the plaintiff’s failure to demonstrate that labeling the product as “fish oil” would genuinely mislead consumers. This victory underscores the firm’s adeptness in defending class actions and securing favorable results for its clients.

The DTO team consisted of Will Delgado, Megan O’Neill, and Erik Mortensen.