Think you’re being healthy when you reach for that KIND bar in the middle of your workday? We won’t say yes or no—since the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has recently declined to opine on what “all...more
LEGISLATION, REGULATIONS & STANDARDS - Omnibus Spending Bill Includes Congressional Notes to FDA - President Biden has signed a spending bill that includes additional funding for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)...more
Pickle maker Grillo's Pickles, Inc. has filed suit against the maker of Wahlburgers pickles, alleging the company makes misleading claims about its pickles' freshness and all natural and preservative-free status. Grillo's...more
Food and beverage companies doing business in the United States should be aware that lawsuits are being brought against businesses based on small amounts of ingredients and trace amounts of substances that are incidentally in...more
Welcome to the latest edition of the Food & Beverage Digest, our roundup of court cases and settlements affecting the agribusiness, food, beverage, and cosmetics industry. Here you’ll find information about cases buzzing...more
As of August 2019, overall food litigation filings are on pace with those of last year. California and New York remain the two most popular jurisdictions for food litigation matters. While California filings in 2019 are...more
A New York federal court recently dismissed a putative class action alleging that a line of dog food products was improperly labeled as “natural” where the plaintiff alleged that the products contained only trace amounts of...more
With fifteen new cases filed in April, total filings on the year are slightly down from last year—there have been sixty-nine total new filings in 2019 compared with seventy-seven by this time last year. Most new filings were...more
Two recent contrasting decisions in class action false advertising cases alleging misleading uses of the term “natural” for food products underscore the difficulty in predicting the likelihood of achieving an early stage...more
Consumer class action suits continue to target food products that plaintiffs allege don’t actually contain the ingredients highlighted in their labels. For example, in one such false fact case last month, the plaintiff argued...more
Each month we will be sharing the PC Food Litigation Index, a summary of latest class action filings in the food and beverage industry. This data is compiled by Perkins Coie based on a review of dockets from courts...more
On August 1, plaintiff and putative class representative Markeith Parks sued celebrity chef Rachael Ray’s dog food brand Nutrish® alleging that the products are falsely labeled and marketed as “natural.” The complaint states...more
What does “natural” mean in the context of product advertising? Consumers see phrases like “natural,” “all natural,” and “100% natural” over and over again in modern marketing. The trouble is that “natural” may not mean...more
Podpeskar v. Dannon Co., Inc., 16-cv-8478 (KBF) (S.D.N.Y., Dec. 3, 2017) - The Southern District of New York joins the list of federal courts that have recently rejected potential class action suits brought against...more
For years the United States District Court for the Northern District of California has been known as the “Food Court.” It acquired the name because both plaintiffs and defendants viewed it as pro-plaintiff in class action...more
Baby food maker Gerber has scored a partial victory in a false labeling would be class action. The Ninth Circuit in Bruton v. Gerber Prods. Co., Case No. 15-15174, has reversed itself and thrown out a deceptive labeling claim...more
The food and beverage industry is faced with an onslaught of consumer fraud class actions targeting everything from the use of the terms “all natural,” “healthy,” and “organic,” to the amount of slack-fill in particular...more
Food for Thought is a review of significant court decisions affecting the food, beverage, dietary supplements and personal care products industry. Although many cases in this edition focus on class certification, others...more
A recent decision from the Ninth Circuit has highlighted the uncertainty that exists in the food product market about the use and definition of “All Natural” in labeling and advertising. In Brazil v. Dole Packaged Foods,...more
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed in part and affirmed in part a Northern District of California ruling concerning the “All Natural Fruit” labeling on Dole’s packaged fruit products. Brazil v. Dole Packaged...more
The summer of 2016 saw continued trends in class action filings. Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) cases continued to be rampant, with multiple cases being filed daily on a national scale. Most were generally directed...more
On September 30, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed in part a district court decision granting summary judgment to Dole Packaged Foods, LLC (“Dole”), finding that a reasonable fact finder could conclude that Dole’s...more