A product liability suit against Boca Raton, Fla.-based dietary supplements maker Rexall Sundown involving the death of a man who used its once popular weight-loss product Metab-O-LITE was reinstated Wednesday by the 4th District Court of Appeal.
Rexall had won dismissal on the grounds that Palm Beach County, Fla., wasn’t the proper venue for the lawsuit. But the panel, in an opinion written by Judge Carole Y. Taylor, unanimously reversed Palm Beach Circuit Judge Diana Lewis’ dismissal. The appellate court said Rexall filed its motion to dismiss months too late and that Palm Beach County was the appropriate venue because the manufacture and distribution of the product occurred there and in Broward County, Fla.
