lawsuits

Anna Nicole Smith and TrimSpa Inc face a class-action lawsuit. The suit alleges false or misleading claims were made about the TrimSpa diet pill.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has hit 4 weight loss pill makers with some very hefty fines. The fines (in the millions of dollars) are for false advertising claims.

Finally the sorry saga has come to an end. Dr Phil McGraw's line of "Shape-Up" supplements became the subject of a class action lawsuit last year.

The claim has now been settled - to the tune of $10.5 million.

$33.6 million in nine months. That's the amount of money funneled through a single on-line pharmacy. Two Doctors have now been indicted due to approving prescriptions without seeing anyone in person.

When Dr Phil McGraw came out with his own line of supplements - his credibility took a real hit. It's one thing to write insightful self-help books - but promoting diet supplements is another thing altogether.

Dr Phil created the Shape Up! brand - which even included having his diet online via eDiets (the relationship was soon disbanded). The line of Shape Up! supplements came to the attention of the FTC after claims of false advertising.

The restaurant industry has done all the ground work in preventing any kind of obesity lawsuit against them: Twenty states have enacted versions of a "commonsense consumption" law. They vary slightly in substance, but all prevent lawsuits seeking personal injury damages related to obesity from ever being tried in their courts. Another 11 states have similar legislation pending.