On March 16, 2017, the Southern District of California certified a class action against the manufacturer of gingko biloba and Costco Wholesale Corporation, the seller. Plaintiff alleged, on behalf of a putative class of California purchasers of TruNature Gingko, that the product does not provide any mental clarity, memory, or mental alertness benefits. Plaintiff’s claims were brought under California's unfair competition law and California's Consumer Legal Remedies ... Keep Reading »
Food & Beverage Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in the food and beverage industry, including news, key cases, and strategies.
Noodle This! The Yin and Yang of Two Courts, Two Antitrust Cases, Two Class Certification Motions, Two Daubert Challenges, Two Opposite Results, One Day Apart
Noodle this: Two significant orders on class certification in antitrust matters issued last week. Both were heavily influenced by the threshold determination of Daubert challenges to the plaintiffs’ expert evidence. In one court, the Daubert motions were denied and the classes were certified. In the other court, the expert evidence was excluded and the class certification requests were denied (and, indeed, two related classes were decertified). On January 19, 2017, ... Keep Reading »
Nothing Shady Where State Statutory Language Restricting Class Actions is Clear
Six years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court stated in a plurality opinion that "Rule 23 unambiguously authorizes any plaintiff, in any federal proceeding, to maintain a class action if the Rule's requirements are met" -- even if the same case could not be brought as a class action under state law. Shady Grove Orthopedic Accos., P.A. v. Allstate Ins. Co., 559 U.S. 393, 406 (2010). While the Shady Grove ruling may seem clear when the conflicting state law is purely procedural, ... Keep Reading »
For Want of a Damages Model, Certification Was Lost
Khasin v. R. C. Bigelow, Inc., No. 12-CV-02204-WHO, 2016 WL 1213767 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 29, 2016), provides a recent example of a class-certification denial premised on the “damages model” rule expressed in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 133 S.Ct. 1426, 1433 (2013). As the Northern District of California expressed it: “To satisfy Rule 23(b)(3)’s predominance requirement, a plaintiff must demonstrate that ‘damages are capable of measurement on a classwide basis….’ At class ... Keep Reading »
2016 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey Reveals Important Trends in Class Action Management
The fifth annual edition of the Carlton Fields Class Action Survey has just been released, and in this year’s survey corporate counsel report that class action spending has increased after four consecutive years of decline. Spending is also projected to increase in 2016. This marks a key turning point. The Numbers Across industries, the companies surveyed report that they spent $2.1 billion on class action lawsuits in 2015. The number of companies facing at least one ... Keep Reading »
Sample This! Tyson Employee Class Wins Significant but Narrow Supreme Court Victory
Tyson Foods lost its bid to overturn an almost $3 million class action judgment against it in a case brought by workers at an Iowa pork-processing factory who contended they did not receive overtime pay for time spent “donning and doffing” protective equipment. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in a 6-2 decision. Because Justice Kennedy (who wrote the decision) and Justice Roberts joined the majority, the loss of Justice Scalia had no apparent impact on the ... Keep Reading »
2015 Food Industry Decisions With Bite
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 cases pertaining to class certification, we have also included other cases relating to summary judgment decisions. Florida District Court Rejects Motion to Strike But Allows Pre-Certification Standing Challenge in Snack Food Labeling Case Bohlke v. Shearer’s Foods, LLC, No. ... Keep Reading »
CAFA Settlement Trap: States As Absent Class Members
Will a Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) notice of settlement bind a state as an absent class member? A Pennsylvania federal district court recently offered guidance on this issue. The case involved allegations that the defendant pharmaceutical company illegally delayed the introduction of a cheaper, generic version of its nasal inflammation drug Flonase by filing a sham citizen petition with the Food and Drug Administration. In June 2013, the court approved a ... Keep Reading »
California Supreme Court Endorses More Consumer Class False Advertising Litigation in Organic Food Decision
“Labels matter,” the California Supreme Court began its unanimous December 3 opinion. Expect that to be the new rallying cry of plaintiff class action lawyers when suing consumer companies for alleged false advertising. The California Supreme Court held that state law claims of intentional mislabeling produce as organic are not preempted by the Organic Food Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. §§ 6501-6522). Whether this ruling will be limited to just that federal act or will have ... Keep Reading »
Missouri District Court Joins the List: Unaccepted Rule 68 Offer Does Not Moot Claims
Yet another court has found that an unaccepted Rule 68 Offer of Judgment will not moot a putative class action, even where the offer purports to satisfy all of plaintiff’s demands. Plaintiffs sued in the Eastern District of Missouri and proposed to represent a class of at least 60 former joint venture general managers of Panera Bread Company whose buyout payments from Panera were allegedly capped at an amount lower than that to which they contractually agreed. Plaintiffs ... Keep Reading »