Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Attorney Russell Todd Abney with Beasley Allen Law Firm has filed a lawsuit against C.B. Fleet Company, Inc., on behalf of Mary Little, a resident of Newton County, Georgia, claiming that the plaintiff suffered severe personal injuries as a result of ingesting Fleet’s over-the-counter product known as Fleet Phospho-soda.

In October 2007, Little ingested the product in preparation for a colonoscopy without knowing that the solution had been linked to permanent kidney damage and renal failure. After using Fleet, a type of laxative known as oral sodium phosphate, or OSP, Little began having complications and suffered from acute renal failure. According to the complaint, the condition has caused her to suffer extensive pain, emotional distress and a reduction in her ability to enjoy life.

Though Fleet was aware of the risk of serious kidney injury associated with the use of its OSP products to cleanse the bowel prior to procedures such as colonoscopy, the company did nothing to warn consumers, according to the complaint. In December 2008, the Food and Drug Administration, responding to numerous reports of kidney injury associated with OSPs, issued a black box warning for prescription brands Visicol and Osmo Prep, made by Salix Pharmaceuticals. In turn, Fleet, which sold over-the-counter OSP products that are not as closely regulated by the FDA, pulled its products off store shelves.

The Little lawsuit states that Fleet, which was aware of the risks, was obligated to discuss with Little, her physicians and other consumers and physicians the risk of severe kidney injury. As a direct result of the defendants’ “malicious and/or intentional conduct,” Little suffered severe personal injuries and related damages. Little and her husband, Willie, are asking for compensation for injuries and emotional distress caused by ingesting the Fleet product.

Read the Little complaint.

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