The New York City Food Policy Center at Hunter College has announced a May 20, 2014, meeting at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York City, to discuss ways of translating conflicting information about salt into public health policy. Professor of Public Health at the City University of New York School of Public Health and Hunter College Nicholas Freudenberg is slated to moderate the panel with participants former Commissioner of Health, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Thomas Farley; and Professor and Department Chair of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University’s Sandro Galea Gelman. See NYCFoodPolicy.org, May 7, 2014. Issue 523
Posts By Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.
Repeated motions of lifting pitchers, steaming milk and stamping espresso may cause medial epicondylitis—golfer’s elbow—or other stress injuries in baristas. A recent New York Post article chronicles one woman’s experience with a stress injury allegedly resulting from her job duties as a barista. In addition, a former barista in Canberra, Australia, was recently awarded $600,000 (AUD) in damages after she had a rib removed and was diagnosed with a nerve disorder as a result of the stress from repeatedly holding a 4.4-pound jug of milk while the coffee machine steamed it. According to an informal survey conducted by coffee website Sprudge, 55 percent of 475 respondents reported they had sustained repetitive stress injuries in their barista work. While treatment can include physical therapy or surgery, a certified hand specialist who spoke to the Post said that preventative measures like exercise and better posture can help protect coffee shop employees from…
Ice cream truck franchiser Mister Softee Inc. has filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit alleging trademark infringement and violation of a non-compete covenant against former franchisee Dimitrios Tsirkos, who converted his 16 Mister Softee trucks to Master Softee trucks and began selling his own ice cream out of them at the beginning of the 2014 ice cream truck season. Mister Softee of Queens Inc. v. Tsirkos, No. 14-1975 (S.D.N.Y., motion filed April 25, 2014). Mister Softee ended Tsirkos’ franchise contract after he refused to pay $74,000 in franchise royalties for his trucks, but Tsirkos allegedly adjusted the logo on his trucks, started his own soft-serve depot and began selling ice cream in New York City anyway. Tsirkos has filed a motion opposing the injunction, and a hearing is set for May 15, 2014. See Law360, May 2, 2014. See New York Daily News, May 1, 2014. …
Two consumers have filed a putative class action against dairy cooperative Darigold Inc., a subsidiary of Northwest Dairy Association, for false advertising and fraud by concealment, alleging that the company misrepresented the conditions in which its milk is produced. Ruiz v. Darigold Inc., No. 14-2054 (N.D. Cal., May 5, 2014). Yesenia Ruiz and Fernando Dorantes argue that they would not have purchased Darigold’s products if they had known about the purportedly poor conditions in which its employees work and its cows are milked. According to the complaint, Darigold employees are denied drinkable water, break periods and lunch rooms, and some of its cows are sick and injured but are milked anyway. The plaintiffs also assert claims under California’s Unfair Competition Law; the unjust enrichment laws of California, Washington and Oregon; Washington’s Consumer Protection Act; and Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act. Issue 523
A California resident has filed a putative nationwide class action against Trader Joe’s alleging that the company fails to disclose “the dangerously high” sodium content contained in its sunflower kernels and sunflower shells and then markets the products as a “good” or healthy snack. DiSimone v. Trader Joe’s Co., No. BC544924 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., filed May 6, 2014). Claiming that the company deceives consumers by listing a single serving “with Shells” as containing 690 milligrams (mg) of sodium or “29%” of the total daily value established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the plaintiff contends that the seeds and shells, which are also placed in the mouth, actually contain more than 2,350 mg of sodium, an amount that far exceeds a large order of McDonald’s French fries at 350 mg of sodium. The plaintiff further asserts that the average consumer will eat more than one…
Kashi Co. and its unit Bear Naked Inc. have both settled class actions stemming from their claims that their products are “All Natural” and include “Nothing Artificial.” Astiana v. Kashi Co., No. 11-1967 (S.D. Cal., settlement filed May 2, 2014). Thurston v. Bear Naked Inc., No. 11-2890 (S.D. Cal., settlement filed May 2, 2014). The plaintiffs alleged in California federal court that the companies, both part of Kellogg Co., advertised their products as all natural and charged higher prices based on that quality while inserting synthetic material into their foods. A judge certified both classes in July 2013 after ruling that the plaintiffs had proved the artificiality of some of the “natural” ingredients, including hexane-processed soy ingredients and pyridoxine hydrochloride. Kashi has agreed to pay $5 million to California consumers who purchased its products and to alter its labeling and advertising to remove the claims at issue; in a similar…
Samuel Lightsey, who formerly managed the Peanut Corp. of America, which was implicated in a 2008-2009 nationwide Salmonella outbreak, has entered a guilty plea to six of 76 criminal charges, including conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, obstruction of justice, and other counts related to the distribution of adulterated or misbranded food. U.S. v. Lightsey, No. 13-CR-12 (M.D. Ga., Albany Div., plea entered May 7, 2014). Facing a potential sentence of six years in prison, Lightsey has agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. The outbreak sickened more than 700 who consumed products containing tainted peanut paste, and at least nine died. According to the plea agreement, in September 2008, Lightsey and others shipped a lot of peanut paste from the company’s Blakely, Georgia, facility “without ever having submitted a sample from said lot to a laboratory for microbiological testing.” This food was misbranded because it was accompanied by a document containing…
Texas has filed a motion to intervene in Alamo Beer Co. LLC’s trademark infringement suit against Old 300 Brewing LLC, asserting that the state has the rights to the “Alamo” mark. Alamo Beer Co. LLC v. Old 300 Brewing LLC, No. 14-285 (W.D. Tex., motion filed April 28, 2014). Filed in March 2014, Alamo Beer’s original complaint alleged that Old 300 Brewing (doing business as Texian Brewing Co.) infringed on its mark by using the silhouette of the Alamo on Texian beer labels, which image Alamo Beer has used and federally registered as a trademark for beer labeling since 1997. Texas argues that it has registered and common law rights to the use of the Alamo Mission’s likeness in commerce. In 2013, the state began registering the Alamo silhouette in a variety of categories, including blankets, apparel, jewelry, leather goods, digital media, packaged foods, and museum services. In the category…
A federal court in the Southern District of California has transferred to the Northern District a lawsuit filed in January 2014 against Pepsico, Inc., alleging that its products violate the state’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop. 65) because they contain 4 methylimidazole (4-MEI), a chemical included on the Prop. 65 list of substances known to the state to cause cancer, and the company has not provided appropriate consumer warnings. Riva v. Pepsico, Inc., No. 14-0340 (S.D. Cal., order entered April 30, 2014). Eight similar federal lawsuits against Pepsico were filed either in the Northern District or transferred there and are scheduled for a May 29, 2014, case management conference. Finding that transfer to the Northern District would promote the efficient use of judicial resources, the court granted the defendant’s motion. The plaintiffs had argued that under the first-to-file rule, all of the cases should have been…
A federal court in California has dismissed all but one claim in a putative consumer-fraud class action against The Hershey Co., finding that, based on his deposition, the plaintiff relied only on the label claims for antioxidants in making his purchasing decisions. Khasin v. The Hershey Co., No. 12-1862 (N.D. Cal., order entered May 5, 2014). Information about a prior court ruling that dismissed other claims appears in Issue 463 of this Update. The court granted the company’s motion for summary judgment as to claims made on its website or in off-label advertising and as to “any claims based on alleged misrepresentations or omissions regarding vanillin, PGPR, serving size and alkalized cocoa powder.” The court also granted summary judgment as to claims alleging a failure to make disclaimers on the company’s mint products, i.e., that they should not be substituted as an entrée, lunch or meal and that they are not…
