Racies v. Quincy Bioscience, LLC

          FINAL JURY INSTRUCTIONS

          HAYWOOD S. GILLIAM, JR., UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

         INSTRUCTION NO. 1

         DUTY OF JURY

         Members of the Jury: Now that you have heard all of the evidence and the arguments of the attorneys, it is my duty to instruct you on the law that applies to this case.

         Each of you has received a copy of these instructions that you may take with you to the jury room to consult during your deliberations.

         It is your duty to find the facts from all the evidence in the case. To those facts you will apply the law as I give it to you. You must follow the law as I give it to you whether you agree with it or not. And you must not be influenced by any personal likes or dislikes, opinions, prejudices, or sympathy. That means that you must decide the case solely on the evidence before you. You will recall that you took an oath to do so.

         Please do not read into these instructions or anything that I may say or do or have said or done that I have an opinion regarding the evidence or what your verdict should be.

         INSTRUCTION NO. 2

         CLAIMS AND DEFENSES

         By way of reminder, I will give you a brief summary of the position of the parties:

         This is a class action lawsuit. Plaintiff Phillip Racies, on behalf of himself and other California purchasers of the dietary supplement Prevagen®, asserts that Defendant Quincy Bioscience, LLC violated the Consumers Legal Remedies Act because Plaintiff contends that Defendant has made false or misleading statements about the benefits of Prevagen.

         Specifically, Plaintiff contends that Prevagen labels represent, among other things, that Prevagen “improves memory.” Plaintiff contends that the statement is false because apoeaquorin, the active ingredient in Prevagen, cannot work because it is completely destroyed by the human digestion process and cannot pass through the human blood brain barrier.

         Defendant denies Plaintiff's allegations and denies that the label statements are false or misleading. Defendant contends that Plaintiff cannot meet his burden to prove that Prevagen does not improve memory or cognitive function for any consumers.

         INSTRUCTION NO. 3

         CORPORATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS-FAIR TREATMENT

         All parties are equal before the law and a corporation is entitled to the same fair and conscientious consideration by you as any party.

         INSTRUCTION NO. 4

         LIBAILITY OF CORPORATIONS-SCOPE OF AUTHORITY NOT IN ISSUE

         Under the law, a corporation is considered to be a person. It can only act through its employees, agents, directors, or officers. Therefore, a corporation is responsible for the acts of its employees, agents, directors, and officers performed within the scope of their authority.

         INSTRUCTION NO. 5

         “CLASS ACTION” DEFINED

         A class action is a lawsuit that has been brought by one or more plaintiffs on behalf of a larger group of people who have similar legal claims. All of these people together are called a “class.” Plaintiff Philip Racies brings this action as the class representative.

         In a class action, the claims of many individuals can be resolved at the same time instead of requiring each member to sue separately. Because of the large number of claims that are at issue in this case, not everyone in the class testified. You may assume that the evidence at this trial applies to all class members. All members of the class will be bound by the result of this trial.

         In this case, the class consists of the following:

All California consumers who, within the time period of January 21, 2012 to May 7, 2019, purchased Prevagen Regular Strength, Prevagen Extra Strength, or Prevagen Mixed Berry Chewable.

         INSTRUCTION NO. 6

         BURDEN OF PROOF-PREPONDERANCE OF THE EVIDENCE

         When a party has the burden of proving any claim or affirmative defense by a preponderance of the evidence, it means you must be persuaded by the evidence that the claim or affirmative defense is more probably true than not true.

         You should base your decision on all of the evidence, regardless of which party presented it.

         INSTRUCTION NO. 7

         WHAT IS EVIDENCE

         The evidence you are to consider in deciding what the facts are consists of:

1. the sworn testimony of any witness;

2. the exhibits that are admitted into evidence;

3. any facts to which the lawyers have agreed; and

4. any facts that I may instruct you to accept ...