Quaker Oats Maple Suit Transferred to California

A New Jersey federal court has transferred to California a lawsuit alleging
that The Quaker Oats Co. misleads consumers with the packaging of
its Maple & Brown Sugar oatmeal product because it does not contain
maple syrup or maple sugar. Gates v. Quaker Oats Co., No. 16-1944
(D.N.J., order entered August 3, 2016). The complaint “makes essentially
identical allegations against Quaker” as three other putative class actions
pending in other federal courts, the court notes, including the first-filed
case in California. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation denied
an Illinois plaintiff’s request to consolidate the cases into multidistrict
litigation, but the panel suggested that the other parties transfer their
lawsuits to California to streamline the process. Quaker moved to
transfer the case from New Jersey to California, and the plaintiff did not
oppose; accordingly, the court granted the motion to transfer.

Issue 614