News in Brief: March 17, 2016 – Duracell, Fish Oil, Facebook and More

Today’s news takes a look at a fish oil lawsuit that didn’t have the goods, a class action filed against Bank of America, the fall of a lawsuit that claimed Duracell batteries didn’t last as long as they should have and allegations that Facebook tracked users’ medical information.

Fish Oil Suit Doesn’t Hold Water

A New Jersey class action that claimed Natural Factors Nutritional Products Inc. sold fish oil that didn’t live up to advertised claims was dismissed on Wednesday. The lawsuit alleged that the fish oil was marketed as being pharmaceutical-grade quality but, in reality, wasn’t any better than cheaper varieties of the same product. The suit was dismissed when the judge found that the plaintiff didn’t prove that the company’s claims caused him to suffer any loss.

BofA and Debts to Society

Allegedly, Bank of America has been illegally suing consumers who owe credit card debt, even after it sold the debt and was no longer entitled to collect it. A class action was filed against BofA on Wednesday claiming that these actions violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Duracell Lawsuit Loses Power

Proctor & Gamble Co. (they own Duracell) escaped a class action on Tuesday when the judge found that the company hadn’t misrepresented the shelf life of its Duracell batteries. The suit claimed that certain Duracell batteries did not live up to their advertised “10-year storage life” due to their potential to leak. The judge stated that a consumer would take the guarantee to mean that if a specified product failed before the ten-year mark, Duracell would offer to refund or replace the batteries – not that the company had promised the batteries would never leak.

Facebook Accused of Tracking Medical Info for Marketing

Facebook has been hit with a class action claiming that it cooperated with several health care websites to gather users’ medical information and then used that information for advertising purposes. According to the lawsuit, Facebook would track and collect its users’ sensitive information without their consent while violating the medical sites’ privacy policies in the process. The health care websites are also included in the suit because they allegedly disclosed personal information to Facebook in violation of medical and privacy laws.