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Rawlings Power Balance Bracelet Class Action Moves Forward
By Mike Holter
A class action lawsuit accusing Rawlings Sporting Goods Co. of falsely advertising its Power Balance Performance Bracelets on Walmart.com survived the company’s motion to dismiss this week.
U.S. District Judge George H. King said Wednesday that lead Plaintiff Stacy Orlick met all of the requirements to move ahead with her lawsuit, rejecting Rawlings’ bid to dismiss the case because it said Orlick failed to demonstrate it was responsible for the Walmart.com ads.
Judge King disagreed, ruling that that major elements of the Walmart.com ad “substantially mirror” ads on Rawlings’ own website. Therefore, Orlick’s allegation that Rawlings provided Wal-Mart with the product description is plausible, he said.
Orlick sued Rawlings in August, claiming she purchased a Rawlings Power Balance Performance Bracelet based on a deceptive Walmart.com ad. Orlick says she never received the advertised benefits of the $35 bracelet, which is supposed to provide strength and flexibility, despite using the product as instructed. Rawlings states on its own website that the bracelets are “a favorite among elite competitors” and contain a “power balance hologram embedded with frequencies that react positively with your body’s natural energy fields.”
Multiple companies have come out with similar hologram bracelets and accessories that purport to improve balance, strength and athletic performance. Many of them have been hit with class action lawsuits alleging the products don’t work as advertised and that there is no scientific evidence to back up these marketing claims.
A class action lawsuit settlement over alleged false advertising of the iRenew Bracelet was reached in September.
The Rawlings false advertising class action lawsuit is seeking to represent a proposed class of all U.S. consumers who purchased Rawlings’ power balance accessories within the last four years.
The Rawlings Power Balance Performance Bracelet Class Action Lawsuit case is Stacy Orlick v. Rawlings Sporting Goods Co., Case No. 12-cv-06787, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Orlick is represented by Marc L. Godino of Glancy Binkow & Goldberg LLP and Jon A. Tostrud of Tostrud Law Group PC.
UPDATE: A class action settlement has been reached in a separate case involving Rawlings Power Balance bracelets and other products (Steiner v. Rawlings Sporting Goods Co.). The deadline to file a claim is Jan. 8, 2014. See claim filing instructions here.
All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions
One thought on Rawlings Power Balance Bracelet Class Action Moves Forward
I brought 1 Band for each arm and 1 more after 1 was damaged with no results.