A Hawaii state court has reportedly ordered Hawaii County not to publicly disclose the identity and specific location of farms that grow genetically modified (GM) papayas. While the order apparently allows the county to maintain registration information under a December 2013 law that also prohibited open-air use and testing of GM crops, the court agreed with two GM papaya growers that the registration program lacked clear rules as to information that could be released to the public. According to a news source, the growers are concerned about vandalism or other economic harms. The court’s preliminary injunction states that releasing information about specific farm locations would not “protect farmers of nongenetically engineered crops” due to a “limited” cross-pollination risk and because GM papayas are not prohibited. A Kohala councilwoman reportedly expressed satisfaction with the ruling and contended that the general location of farms could still be made public under the injunction.…
Category Archives Issue 529
A federal court in California has granted final approval to the nationwide class settlement of claims that the company which makes Muscle Milk® products deceived consumers by labeling them with the terms “Healthy, Sustained Energy” and “Healthy Fats.” Delacruz v. CytoSport, Inc., No. 11-3532 (N.D. Cal., order entered July 1, 2014). Additional information about the litigation and settlement appears in Issues 403, 436, 475, and 505 of this Update. Under the agreement, CytoSport will pay $1 million to eligible class members and cease using the allegedly deceptive terms on all newly printed packaging for certain products. The company may continue to use the designation “Healthy Fats” on the packaging for Muscle Milk® RTD and related products if they contain “fewer than 0.5 grams of saturated fat per serving, or CytoSport also includes the words ‘See nutrition information for saturated fat content’ in connection with the words ‘Healthy Fats.’” The court also awarded…
Poultry manufacturer Foster Farms has filed an amended complaint in its lawsuit against its Lloyd’s of London insurers, which had rejected its $14.2 million claim for economic losses resulting from a government-mandated shutdown of one of its facilities. Foster Poultry Farms Inc. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London, No. 14–953 (E.D. Cal., amended complaint filed July 3, 2014). Foster Farms had paid almost $600,000 for a yearlong product contamination policy to three insurers operating on the Lloyd’s of London insurance market, and the company later filed a claim to cover losses from the forced closure, including costs from the 1.3 million pounds of product it destroyed. The insurers rejected the claim because Foster Farms did not initiate the recall of its chicken, arguing instead that the policy covered economic losses associated with a voluntary recall from customers rather than losses from the destruction of products still in its warehouse. In a…
The Beech-Nut Nutrition Co. has filed a complaint against an organic baby-food maker seeking a declaration that Beech-Nut has not infringed any of Plum PBC’s trademarks and that the trademarks Plum has asserted to the word “JUST” and certain phrases are invalid. Beech-Nut Nutrition Co. v. Plum PBC, No. 14-0791 (N.D.N.Y., filed June 30, 2014). According to the complaint, Plum sent Beech-Nut a cease-and-desist letter in June 2014 shortly after Beech-Nut launched a new line of whole fruit and vegetable foods for babies including the word “just” on product labels and advertised them under a promotional campaign “This is not baby food” and “This is real food for babies.” The letter allegedly demanded that Beech-Nut stop infringing Plum’s “JUST” trademark and using the promotional phrases. Beech-Nut contends that (i) the word “just” is simply descriptive and generic; (ii) Plum does not use the trademark symbol beside the word on its product…
A federal court in Georgia has entered a number of orders in criminal proceedings, expected to go to trial July 14, 2014, against the former owner of the Peanut Corp. of America, implicated in a 2008-2009 nationwide Salmonella outbreak that sickened hundreds and led to at least nine deaths; among the orders was one denying the prosecution’s request for a psychiatric examination of Stewart Parnell. United States v. Parnell, No. 13-cr-12 (U.S. Dist. Ct., M.D. Ga., Albany Div., order entered July 10, 2014). Details about the criminal indictment appear in Issue 472 of this Update. While Parnell’s expert, whose testimony as to the defendant’s purported ADHD condition has been excluded, described Parnell as “fidgety, restless, excitable,” the court apparently found that this testimony did not otherwise indicate that Parnell would be unable to focus at trial. “Even if Stewart Parnell has an attention deficit disorder, Dr. Conley testified he is…
A federal court in New Jersey has denied without prejudice the motion to certify three classes of multi-state claimants alleging that Beam Global Spirits & Wine falsely markets and sells its “Skinnygirl Margarita” product as “all natural” and a “healthy alternative to other commercial Margarita products.” Stewart v. Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc., No. 11-5149 (U.S. Dist. Ct., D.N.J., order entered June 26, 2014). Under Third Circuit Court of Appeals precedent, the court determined that class membership, essentially via affidavit relying on potentially faulty memory, was not sufficiently ascertainable. The plaintiffs will have the opportunity to renew their motion at any appropriate time “specifically taking into account the rulings in Marcus, Hayes, and Carrera.” Among other matters, the court rejected the plaintiffs’ claim that the affidavits could be cross-checked using social media—for example, the “likes” or comments on the defendants’ Skinnygirl Facebook pages, or the companies’ consumer email records—or…
A California federal court has dismissed with prejudice a putative class action alleging that Hain Celestial Group Inc. mislabels its vegetable juice products as “organic” and “raw” one day before a proposed class action was filed against the company in New York federal court alleging similar claims about its baby foods and home care products. Alamilla, et al. v. Hain Celestial Group, Inc., No. 13–5595 (N.D. Cal., order entered July 2, 2014); Segedie v. The Hain Celestial Group, Inc., No. 14–5029 (S.D.N.Y., filed July 3, 2014). The California court dismissed the case based on two articles cited and incorporated into the complaint concluding that “pressurization has ‘little or no effects’ on nutritional and sensory quality aspects of foods,” which contradicted the plaintiffs’ argument that the treatment deprives the juice of nutritional value and that the company’s representations that it does not cook the juice are thus misleading. As a result of…
A California federal court has granted motions to amend the judgment in two cases previously dismissed to accord primary jurisdiction to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), each alleging that the defendants mislabeled their food products as including “evaporated cane juice” (ECJ) rather than the more common term, sugar. Swearingen v. Santa Cruz Natural Inc., No. 13–4291 (U.S. Dist. Ct., N.D. Cal., order entered July 1, 2014); Figy v. Amy’s Kitchen Inc., No. 13–3816 (U.S. Dist. Ct., N.D. Cal., order entered July 7, 2014). The court cited “the unique circumstances,” “the potential prejudice to plaintiff,” and “the apparent lack of prejudice to the defendant” in amending its previous decisions to dismiss the cases without prejudice rather than stay them. The plaintiffs had argued that allowing the dismissal to remain rather than issuing a stay through the end of 2014 would likely result in the loss of a year of…
Environmental groups have brought actions in state court and before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeking action to halt the use of certain insecticides that they claim are linked to the collapse of bee colonies. In California, Pesticide Action Network North America and other groups call on the state Department of Pesticide Registration to “stop approving neonicotinoid pesticides pending its completion of a comprehensive scientific review of impact to honeybees.” Pesticide Action Network N. Am. v. Cal. Dep’t of Pesticide Regulation, No. RG14731906 (Cal. Super. Ct., Alameda Cty., filed July 8, 2014). They specifically challenge the department’s June 13, 2014, decision to expand the use of two neonicotinoid insecticides while its scientific review, begun in 2009, remains pending. Claiming violations of the California Environmental Quality Act and Food and Agricultural Code, the organizations seek a stay of the decision or a writ of mandate directing the department to vacate the decision,…
Citizens of San Francisco and Berkeley will be voting on the implementation of a soda tax in the November 2014 elections. Similar taxes have failed to garner sufficient support in the past five years, with about 30 propositions introduced and none passed, including two that went to ballot and were defeated in California in 2012. Other countries have found more success with similar measures—among others, France and Mexico have each imposed taxes on sugary drinks. The San Francisco proposal, which needs a two-thirds vote to pass, would add a 2-cent-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks, excluding milk or natural fruit juice without added sugar, while the similar Berkeley proposal is 1-cent per-ounce and needs only a majority of the vote. See Associated Press, July 8, 2014. Issue 529
