Wilkinson Stekloff Secures Trial Win for Bayer in $600 Million One A Day Class Action

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Wilkinson Stekloff team, led by Sean Eskovitz, Alex Walsh, James Rosenthal, and Kieran Gostin, won a decisive victory for Bayer in a $600 million certified consumer class action lawsuit brought on behalf of One A Day multivitamin consumers.  Without calling any witnesses in the defense case, the team relied on devastating cross-examinations of plaintiffs’ expert and fact witnesses to convince the jury to reject plaintiffs’ claims that Bayer had misrepresented the health benefits of One A Day multivitamins.  The jury deliberated for just an hour before returning a complete defense verdict. 

The class action suit, filed on behalf of purchasers of One A Day multivitamins in California, New York, and Florida, challenged as false and misleading Bayer’s claims that One A Day multivitamins support heart health, immunity, and physical energy. Plaintiffs originally sought over $4 billion in damages, which Wilkinson Stekloff successfully reduced to $600 million before trial.

The case, presided over by the Honorable William Orrick of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, in San Francisco, was brought to a close after the jury not only rejected plaintiffs’ challenges to Bayer’s product advertising and labeling, but also concluded that none of the three class representatives had relied on the challenged health claims in purchasing the One A Day product.  Wilkinson Walsh has successfully defended Bayer in several other trials, including three state-court bellwether trials over the blood-thinner Xarelto.

Wilkinson Stekloff served as lead trial counsel. The case is Farar et al v. Bayer AG et al, case no. 3:14-cv-04601.