Katonya Outlaw of Cahokia filed a 10-count $750,000 lawsuit in St. Clair County Circui Court Jan. 18 against Metabolife and Walgreen's, alleging her use of the ephedra-based weight loss drug damaged her nervous and vascular systems.
Represented by the Edwardsville firm of Goldenberg, Miller, Heller & Antognoli, Outlaw claims the defendants either knew or should have known that ephedra had been related to and associated with severe and life-threatening complications and side effects including heart attacks, strokes and seizure disorders.
“Each of the defendants failed to adequately warn Outlaw of the hazards of the use of these products and conspired to conceal and did conceal this knowledge from Outlaw and others," the complaint states. "As a result of this failure to warn, Outlaw was caused to suffer injury and damages."
Outlaw claims that Metabolife was sold by defendants, including Walgreen's, unaccompanied by proper warnings regarding adverse side effects and the comparative severity and duration of such adverse effects.
Outlaw seeks damages to compensate for physical injuries, physical pain and suffering, disability, mental anguish, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of lift past and future, and "time in life that could have been spent doing things other than going to the doctor for medical monitoring," according to the complaint.
Defendants directly or indirectly made, created, manufactured, assembled, designed, sterilized, tested, evaluated, labeled, supplied, packaged, distributed, marketed, advertised, warranted, distributed or sold the ephedra drugs in Illinois, Outlaw claims.
She also claims the defendants did not warn users that numerous other methods of weight loss, including non-drug methods such as diet control and exercise, should be used first and/or exclusively, particularly for non-clinical obese individuals.
05 L 28 (20th Circuit)