SAN FRANCISCO – December 15, 2023 – Gaw | Poe LLP announced today that it won a jury trial on behalf of its clients against Prestige Brands—a publicly traded company whose subsidiary owns and manufactures the popular Clear Eyes Pocket Pals redness relief eye drop product. Gaw | Poe’s clients were comprised of various convenience store wholesalers from California and New York/New Jersey who were all direct purchasers of the Pocket Pals product from Prestige Brands (the “Wholesalers”) that were charged far higher prices on that product compared to Costco and Sam’s Club. Due to this pervasive and long-standing price discrimination, the Gaw | Poe helped the Wholesalers file a lawsuit against Prestige Brands alleging violations of the federal Robinson-Patman Act and the California Unfair Practices Act.
Following a nearly two-week long trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of each of the Wholesalers under section 2(a) of the Robinson-Patman Act and awarded them $350,000 in total, which will be automatically trebled to $1.05 million under the federal Clayton Act. The jury also returned a verdict in favor of each of the California-based Wholesalers on the Unfair Practice Act claims and awarded them $330,000 in such damages—of which some amount will be trebled pursuant to California law. The next phase of the lawsuit will now concern whether the Wholesalers are entitled to injunctive relief under those same claims, as well as under section 2(d) of the Robinson-Patman Act and/or California’s Unfair Competition Law. The Wholesalers are also entitled to statutory attorney’s fees pursuant to both the Clayton Act and the Unfair Practices Act.
This lawsuit was the third jury trial handled by Gaw | Poe during the year 2023. In each of those trials, a jury awarded damages to Gaw | Poe’s clients.
The lawsuit is captioned L.A. International Corp., et al. v. Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc., et al, No. 2:18-CV-06809-MWF-MRW, and the trial was held before Judge Michael Fitzgerald of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. At trial, the Wholesalers were represented by Gaw | Poe LLP attorneys Mark Poe and Randolph Gaw. Additional assistance was provided during trial by Tom Beyer of Acer Trial Tech.
