Woman Files Class-Action Suit Over Diet System

A 38-year-old Ventura woman has filed a class-action suit against Nutri-System Inc., claiming that her gall bladder had to be removed after she lost 34 pounds in 18 weeks on the company’s diet program.

Nancy Alyne Kirkham’s suit filed in Ventura County Superior Court claims that Nutri-System caused her to lose weight too quickly, which led to gall bladder disease. The suit accuses Nutri-System of falsely advertising itself as a safe way to lose weight.

It also claims that Nutri-System officials knew about a link between too-rapid weight loss and gall bladder disease and should have warned her and other customers about it.

The suit asks for an injunction to force the company to put warnings on its product labels, and it seeks unspecified damages that could reach into the millions, said Kirkham’s attorney, Louis M. Marlin.

Nutri-System officials and Chief Executive Officer Donald McCulloch Jr. could not be reached Tuesday evening for comment. In the face of earlier criticism alleging that the program causes overly swift weight loss, Nutri-System officials have said the program is medically safe.

Citing a CBS News report last month, Marlin said more than 200 people nationwide have sued Nutri-System. They alleged that they contracted gall bladder disease while using the company’s products.

But he said Kirkham’s suit is the first in the country to seek a court’s designation as a class action against Nutri-System on behalf of an untold number of potential plaintiffs.

The suit seeks to include anyone who used Nutri-System since the company was founded July 18, 1979, and who later contracted gall bladder disease, Marlin said. He said he has been approached by nine people seeking to join the suit since it was filed Friday.

Marlin said Kirkham began using Nutri-System in December to try to trim her weight from 216 to 155. Kirkham spent $99 in initiation fees and more than $1,200 for 19 weeks’ worth of Nutri-System foods and began losing weight rapidly as she substituted the food for her regular fare, Marlin said.

By early April, Kirkham had slimmed down to 182 pounds, losing an average of 2 1/2 to 3 pounds per week, Marlin said.

But one night in February while watching television, Kirkham suffered stabbing abdominal pains, Marlin said. Believing she was just feeling stress, she took Tylenol and went to bed, and the pains were gone by morning, he said.

In early April, Kirkham suffered another bout with abdominal pain, which again subsided after she took pain killers and went to bed for the night, he said.

Then June 12, abdominal pains struck again, leaving Kirkham doubled over on the floor of her home, unable to stand, Marlin said.

On June 22, Kirkham was admitted to Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, where doctors removed her gall bladder, including a gallstone the diameter of a quarter, Marlin said. Although Kirkham lost eight weeks’ work while recovering from surgery, she might not suffer any long-term damage from the removal of the organ, Marlin said.