A jury has awarded two Muslim men $240,000 after they were fired from Star Transport Inc. for refusing to transport beer because of their religious beliefs. EEOC v. Star Transport Inc., No. 13-1240 (C.D. Ill., jury verdict submitted October 21, 2015). Each man will receive $20,000 for mental or emotional pain and $100,000 in punitive damages. The court also awarded each $1,500 in back pay. "We are pleased that the jury recognized that these—and all—employees are entitled to observe and practice their faith, no matter what that might be," EEOC Supervisory Trial Attorney Diane Smason said in an October 22, 2015, press release. Issue 582
Category Archives 7th Circuit
Subway has reached a settlement agreement in a case alleging its "footlong" sandwiches were not 12 inches in length. In re Subway Footlong Sandwich Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., MDL No. 2439 (E.D. Wis., settlement agreement filed September 29, 2015). Under the agreement, Subway will require its franchisees to "use a tool for measuring bread in each Subway® restaurant to help ensure that the bread sold to customers is either 6 or 12 inches long" and will check for compliance during its monthly franchise inspections, with an increase in penalties for failure to measure up. If the court approves the agreement, Subway will pay each class representative $1,000 and the class counsel's attorney fees of $525,000, but no monetary awards will be distributed to class members. Additional information about the lawsuit appears in Issues 468 and 487 of this Update. Issue 582
Whole Foods Market Group and a consumer have reached a settlement agreement in a lawsuit alleging the company defrauded customers by calculating and adding sales tax to purchases before deducting any discounts from coupons. Wong v. Whole Foods Mkt. Grp., No. 15-0848 (N.D. Ill., stipulation filed October 12, 2015). The parties filed a joint stipulation of dismissal to the court but did not disclose the agreement's terms. The lawsuit is one of several alleging claims of consumer fraud, common law fraud and unjust enrichment against various retailers. Issue 582
An Illinois federal court has granted summary judgment in favor of Kellogg North America Co. in a lawsuit disputing the patented design of resealable cookie packaging. Intercontinental Great Brands LLC v. Kellogg N. Am. Co., No. 13-0321 (N.D. Ill., order entered August 3, 2015). Intercontinental Great Brands (formerly Kraft Foods Global Brands) sued Kellogg and its affiliates alleging patent infringement, and Kellogg argued that the patent was invalid. Kellogg’s resealable container, which “was designed to ‘circumvent the Kraft patent while maintaining similar properties,’” allows consumers to open a package of cookies then reattach the plastic flap to maintain freshness. Kellogg argued that the patent was invalid because the asserted claims in the patent are obvious, and the court agreed. The standard of obviousness includes considerations of four factors: (i) the scope of prior art, (ii) differences between the prior art and the claim at issue, (iii) the level of ordinary…
An Illinois federal court has sentenced the former president of a Wisconsin cheese company to five days in jail, one year of probation and a $750,000 fine for lying to U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors about Queso Cincho de Guerrero cheese imported from Mexico and tainted with E. coli and Salmonella. U.S. v. Zurita, No. 12-0290 (N.D. Ill., sentence entered May 8, 2015). In 2007, Mexican Cheese Producers, Inc. reportedly received tainted cheese returned by retailers. Company workers apparently scraped and washed the cheese, and it was later resold. No illnesses related to the cheese were reported, and the government could not show that company owner Miguel Leal had ordered the workers’ actions, but he pled guilty in 2014 to charges of distributing tainted food and lying about it to federal inspectors. Government prosecutors asked for prison time of 10-16 months. “I don’t think I would have put him…
Skinnygirl Cocktails, LLC and a consumer have filed a joint stipulation of dismissal in a lawsuit alleging that the company and its reality-TV star founder, Bethenny Frankel, mislabeled its Margarita cocktail as “natural” despite containing the preservative sodium benzoate. Langendorf v. Skinnygirl Cocktails, LLC, No. 11-7060 (N.D. Ill., joint stipulation of voluntary dismissal with prejudice filed May 5, 2015). The joint stipulation comes after the court refused to certify the class in October 2014, finding that the plaintiff failed to show that the class was ascertainable and that the plaintiff was not a suitable representative for the class due to a personal relationship with her counsel. The stipulation does not indicate whether the parties reached a settlement. Additional information about the denial of class certification appears in Issue 544 of this Update. Issue 564
Saeilo Enterprises Inc., and Alphonse Capone Enterprises Inc., have reportedly reached a settlement in a lawsuit alleging trademark and trade dress infringement for a bottle of vodka branded as “Tommy Guns Vodka” and shaped like Saeilo’s Thompson submachine gun. Saeilo Enterprises, Inc. v. Alphonse Capone Enterprises, Inc., No. 13-2306 (N.D. Ill., notification of docket entry filed April 21, 2015). The gun manufacturer alleged in its complaint that the vodka company misappropriated the trade dress and trademark of the Thompson gun with the shape of the bottle and the name, and Saeilo sought an injunction, damages and attorney’s fees. A notice filed with the court indicates that the parties have reached a settlement and will file a stipulation to dismiss, but terms of the settlement were unavailable. Issue 562
Attorneys in the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have filed a lawsuit against Wholesome Soy Products to permanently enjoin the company, its owner and manager from causing food to become adulterated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) after government agencies allegedly linked the company’s facilities to a 2014 outbreak of Listeria in Michigan and Illinois. United States v. Wholesome Soy Prods., Inc., No. 15-2974 (N.D. Ill., filed April 3, 2015). Wholesome Soy manufactured and sold mung bean and soybean sprouts until November 2014, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and state agencies allegedly traced incidents of Listeria infections observed in five people to the Wholesome Soy facility. An FDA laboratory allegedly found Listeria in 28 samples—including two from mung bean sprouts—taken during a September 2014 inspection of Wholesome Soy’s plant and…
An Illinois federal court has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Kind misleadingly labeled its Vanilla Blueberry Clusters as having “no refined sugars” despite containing evaporated cane juice (ECJ) and molasses. Ibarrola v. Kind, LLC, No. 12-50377 (N.D. Ill., order entered March 12, 2015). The plaintiff had alleged that ECJ and molasses result from refining sugar cane—albeit less refining than what is required to produce table sugar—and as a result, the label’s claim of “no refined sugar” was fraudulent, breached an express warranty and violated the state’s consumer-protection law. The court found the plaintiff’s claim that she read the entire package, including the ingredients list, before purchasing the product contradicted her claim that she did not understand that the product contained partially refined sugars, noting that courts “have dismissed complaints premised on such logical inconsistencies.” The court also compared what she claimed to believe to what a reasonable consumer would believe upon…
An Illinois federal court has dismissed with prejudice a suit brought by two purported heirs of Anna Short Harrington, the woman who portrayed Aunt Jemima from 1935 to the 1950s, against PepsiCo Inc., The Quaker Oats Co., Pinnacle Foods Group, and The Hillshire Brands Co. Hunter v. PepsiCo Inc., No. 14-6011 (U.S. Dist. Ct., N.D. Ill., order entered February 18, 2015). Harrington served as the face of the Aunt Jemima brand in commercials and public appearances for more than a decade pursuant to a contract which allegedly provided that she would receive a percentage of the proceeds and royalties for the use of her image. The plaintiffs brought 15 causes of action against the food companies, including deprivation of the right of publicity, breach of contract and violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. In the complaint, the plaintiffs asserted that they were…
