CVS is back in court
After settling a lawsuit with the State of New York over the sale of expired products, CVS is involved in a similar suit initiated by the State of Connecticut.
Key Points
CVS's problems over selling expired products continue. The State of Connecticut recently sued the retailer over its carrying expired OTC products, baby formula, and food. CVS recently settled a similar lawsuit with the State of New York.
In mid-November 2009, the company paid $875,000 to settle the New York Attorney General's lawsuit charging that it sold products after their expiration dates at 142 stores. The settlement did not include "any admission of wrongdoing" by CVS, according to a CVS spokesman.
However, in late November, Connecticut's Attorney General and the state's Department of Consumer Protection filed a complaint in Connecticut Superior Court against the chain. The suit seeks "significant" monetary violations of not more than $5,000 per willful violation and asks the court to bar CVS from selling products with expiration dates that have passed.
"CVS's failure to properly police and supervise its shelves - allowing out-of-date medicine and potentially rotten food to remain - is unconscionable and unacceptable," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. "Especially appalling is the sale of expired baby formula, which loses nutrients over time, robbing infants of vital nourishment," Blumenthal said.
