Class Action Accuses Family Dollar of Knowingly Selling Adulterated OTC Drugs, Medical Devices

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges Family Dollar has illegally sold to millions of unsuspecting consumers nationwide over-the-counter (OTC) drugs and medical devices that have been stored in “extreme” conditions beyond their labeled temperature ranges.

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The 71-page class action lawsuit says Family Dollar and parent company Dollar Tree have, on five separate occasions since July 2022, recalled a total of 779 drug products they claim were “inadvertently” shipped and sold outside of their acceptable temperature requirements, rendering the items unsafe for human consumption.

However, according to the case, Family Dollar “cannot realistically claim” that its repeated shipment of adulterated products has been accidental. Rather, the company is fully aware of its improper storage practices, the complaint argues, but has “willfully turned a blind eye” to its alleged violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

“Instead, and in order to avoid losing tens of millions of dollars in initial purchasing costs had it properly quarantined, destroyed, and written-off the adulterated products, Family Dollar repeatedly pushed these losses off on unsuspecting low- and fixed-income consumers,” the filing contends.

Per the suit, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that once an OTC drug is kept at a temperature outside of the suitable range indicated on the product label, a consumer can no longer rely on its expiration date. The FDA warns against using expired medications since there’s no guarantee the product will be safe or effective, the case relays.

The filing notes that a February 2022 inspection report from the FDA provided Family Dollar with “abundant notice” that it illegally and improperly stores OTC drugs and medical devices. Specifically, the FDA found that drug products at Family Dollar’s West Memphis, Arkansas distribution center “are not stored under appropriate conditions of temperature and humidity so that their identity, strength, quality, and purity are not affected,” and that the company “does not monitor nor control temperature or humidity within [its] warehouse,” the suit relays.

The FDA investigation came soon after reports surfaced in January 2022 of a rodent infestation at the West Memphis facility, the lawsuit says. As detailed in a safety alert issued the following month, the FDA observed unsanitary conditions at the distribution center, including “live rodents, dead rodents in various states of decay, rodent feces and urine, evidence of gnawing, nesting and rodent odors throughout the facility, dead birds and bird droppings, and products stored in conditions that did not protect against contamination,” the case shares.

Although Family Dollar has agreed to take “remedial actions” to correct its “putrid” storage conditions as part of a multidistrict litigation settlement, the company continues to store OTC drugs and medical devices in extreme conditions outside of labeled temperature requirements, the complaint alleges. 

In fact, an investigator working on the plaintiff’s behalf spoke with a former Family Dollar store manager who says OTC medications were delivered in trucks with no temperature control, which would be “sweltering” in the summer months, and that the products came in black plastic totes that would get hot to the touch, the suit shares.

The defendant has illegally sold these products “over and over again,” as evidenced by five recalls issued in July 2022, September 2022, May 2023 and October 2023, the complaint alleges. 

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in Florida or Georgia who, since May 1, 2022, purchased an adulterated OTC drug or medical device from a Family Dollar store in either state.

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