Chicago's 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals entered a decision to reverse a class action certification order in a lawsuit alleging eye drops used to treat glaucoma were larger than necessary, and the defendants who sold them, Allergan, Alcon, Bausch and Lomb, Pfizer, Merck and Prasco, were, therefore, causing patients to over pay for the drops.  Glaucoma is a condition that causes damage to the eye's optic nerve and gets worse over time. It's usually linked to a buildup of pressure inside the eye.  If the damage continues, glaucoma can lead to permanent vision loss in those who suffer from the condition. Patients use drops to decrease eye pressure by allowing fluid to drain better or decreasing the amount of fluid naturally made by the eye.

wrote. He asked readers to imagine that the cat food got more expensive, and the fountains didn’t work, and stated that obviously the owners wouldn't be pleased with this.  But, they wouldn't think to sue the breeders, because those that sold them the cats did not misrepresent what they were selling.  "It's the same here," Posner stated.

[caption id="attachment_17141" align="alignnone" width="300"]Image Courtesy of Abel Uribe/TNS/ZUMA Wir. In other words, just because users may be disappointed with the size and price of the eye drops, this doesn't mean the drops themselves are ineffective.  Therefore, the plaintiffs who had alleged violation of merchandising practices in the state of Missouri and consumer fraud in the state of Illinois, had no basis to file the class action.  There were eight classes certified in total between the two states.  "You cannot sue a company and argue only—it could do better by us—which is all they are arguing. In fact, such a suit fails at the threshold, because there is no standing to sue," Posner explained in his decision.  He specifically wrote, "there was no allegation of collusion or misrepresentation, nor any suggestion that the eye drops are unsafe" and ordered the Southern District of Illinois U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle to dismiss the case with prejudice, or permanently.  By issuing the reversal, The Seventh Circuit ultimately concluded that the plaintiffs lacked standing because they failed to assert how they had been harmed.

Sources:

Holy cats! Posner makes feline comparison in eye-drops class actionJudge Posner Gets a Little Frisky in Class Action Ruling