Four years after filing a citizen petition with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking a prohibition on the use of partially hydrogenated oils containing artificial trans fat in food for human consumption, 98-year-old University of Illinois Emeritus Professor of Comparative Biosciences Fred Kummerow has filed a lawsuit seeking an order compelling an agency response to his petition and a declaration that its failure to ban trans fats violates the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Kummerow v. Hamburg, No. 13-2180 (C.D. Ill., filed August 9, 2013). The complaint details the history of the ingredient’s invention and research, including the plaintiff’s own, demonstrating its “harmful effects,” including inhibition of an enzyme necessary to prevent blood clots in the arteries and veins. The plaintiff also distinguishes between artificial and natural trans fats, noting that he does not seek a ban on the latter. According to the complaint, Kummerow learned in 2004…
Category Archives 7th Circuit
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has granted the defendants’ motion for centralization in litigation involving allegations that Subway Sandwich Shops, Inc., and Doctor’s Associates, Inc., “engaged in a false or misleading advertising campaign regarding the size of the Subway Footlong sandwich.” In Re: Subway Footlong Sandwich Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., MDL No. 2439 (JPML, decided June 10, 2013). According to the order, the seven actions addressed by JPML involve common factual questions, with plaintiffs alleging “that defendants have uniform standards and practices with respect to the manufacturing process and franchisee training which result in the actual length of the sandwich being materially shorter than advertised in violation of state consumer protection laws.” JPML has therefore chosen to centralize the actions in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, which provides “a geographically central forum for this nationwide litigation, and will be convenient and accessible for…
According to news sources, several U.S. beekeeping companies have filed lawsuits under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), alleging that the defendant companies illegally imported honey from China thus evading millions of dollars in anti-dumping duties and depressing the price for domestic honey. Moore v. Groeb, No. 13-2905 (N.D. Ill., filed April 17, 2013); Adee Honey Farms v. Groeb Farms, Inc., No. 13-2922 (N.D. Ill., filed April 18, 2013). Among other things, the complaint alleges that some of the imported honey contained adulterated antibiotics, was not actually honey and was falsely represented to government authorities as honey from countries other than China. The plaintiffs reportedly cite a February 2013 agreement between defendant Groeb Farms and the federal government indicating that the company’s “unlawful actions ‘caused losses to the United States of no less than $78,866,216’ in the form of unpaid antidumping duties” during a four-year period. As part…
A firearms company that holds the Tommy Gun™ trademark has brought an infringement action against a company selling its vodka products in 19-inch bottles shaped like Tommy guns. Saeilo Enters., Inc. v. Alphonse Capone Enters., Inc., No. 13-2306 (N.D. Ill., filed March 27, 2013). The plaintiff seeks damages, treble damages, profits, attorney’s fees, and costs under state and federal law, as well as a permanent injunction, cancellation of the vodka maker’s trademark registrations and the destruction of remaining stock. According to a news source, the plaintiff has been aggressive in protecting its brand and, in 2008, sued a company making Tommy gun replicas. It has also apparently trademarked the term “Chicago Typewriter,” a slang expression for the submachine gun. See ABA Journal, April 5, 2013.
A U.S. attorney in Illinois has announced charges filed against two companies and five individuals in a five-year investigation of imports that allegedly circumvented $180 million in anti-dumping duties on honey from China and involved purportedly “adulterated” honey containing the antibiotics chloramphenicol and tetracycline. Groeb Farms, Inc., described as the largest industrial honey supplier in the United States, knowingly avoided more than $78.8 million in antidumping duties by buying mislabeled honey imported from China and has agreed to pay a $2 million fine and “to dispose of any illegally-entered Chinese-origin honey in its possession.” It will also institute a corporate compliance program to ensure supply chain integrity and conduct “reasonable inquiries to safeguard against any illegal activity.” Jun Yang, Urbain Tran and Hung Yi Lin were all charged with brokering or transporting illegal Chinese-origin honey in the United States. Yang will plead guilty and has agreed to a fine of $250,000…
A federal court in Wisconsin has dismissed as preempted a putative class action alleging that the company which makes Sue Bee Clover Honey® violates a state honey-labeling standard by failing to disclose that the product does not contain bee pollen. Regan v. Sioux Honey Ass’n Coop., No. 12-758 (E.D. Wis., decided January 31, 2013). The court also dismissed an unjust enrichment claim and a cause of action based on an alleged violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). According to the court, the Wisconsin honey standard is based on a Codex Alimentarius provision that prohibits the removal of pollen from honey “except where this is unavoidable in the removal of foreign inorganic or organic matter.” Because federal law has no standard of identity for honey, under the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA), the label must therefore bear the “common or usual name” of a food contained therein. The…
As consumers around the world have begun posting images online of their Subway “footlong” sandwiches with rulers showing that the restaurant’s offerings are actually 11 or 11.5 inches in length, several have taken their claims to court. Buren v. Doctor’s Assocs., Inc., No. 13 498 (N.D. Ill., filed January 22, 2013); Pendrak v. Subway Sandwich Shops, Inc., No. ___ (N.J. Super. Ct., filed January 22, 2013). Plaintiff Nguyen Buren filed his lawsuit in a federal court in Chicago, claiming that his sandwich was less than 11 inches long and alleging a “pattern of fraudulent, deceptive and otherwise improper advertising, sales and marketing practices.” New Jersey residents John Farley and Charles Pendrak allege in state court, “Despite the repeated use of uniform language by Subway stating that this sandwich is a ‘footlong,’ the product in question is not, in fact, a foot long. Rather this product consistently measures significantly less than…
Kraft Foods Global Brands LLC has filed a complaint in an Illinois federal court against Kellogg and Keebler, claiming that the companies’ cookie packaging infringes resealable food container patents that Kraft owns. Kraft Foods Global Brands LLC v. Kellogg N. Am. Co., No. 13 321 (N.D. Ill., filed January 16, 2013). According to the complaint, the infringing products involve the defendants’ Keebler Sandies® line of products, including shortbread, pecan shortbread and dark chocolate almond cookies. Kraft alleges that it informed the defendants of the infringement during an August 2012 meeting, but despite that knowledge, “Defendants continue to commit acts of infringement.” Kraft seeks injunctive relief, destruction of infringing products, an accounting, damages, a determination that the case is “exceptional,” attorney’s fees, costs, and interest.
A woman who formerly worked as a LongHorn Steakhouse server has asked a federal court for permission to modify her motion for a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act following the court’s denial of her motion in December 2012 on the ground that she lacked personal knowledge as to practices at the company’s steakhouses across the country. Velez v. GMRI, Inc., No. 12-4857 (N.D. Ill., filed January 14, 2013). The suit involves claims that the defendant failed to pay minimum wages. As part of her motion, the plaintiff seeks leave to amend her complaint “both to correct the LongHorn corporate entities brought in as defendants, and to clarify the claims brought under the collective procedure.” According to the motion, “the only claim on which Plaintiff seeks collective treatment is the claim that Defendants required tipped employees to perform non-tipped duties while paid the tip-credit wage rate, in violation of…
A federal court in Illinois has dismissed a putative class action filed against a nutritional supplement company by a Muslim woman who alleged that the company misled consumers by failing to disclose that some of its products contain an animal-based product. Lateef v. Pharmavite LLC, No. 12-5611 (N.D. Ill., decided October 24, 2012). The court found the consumer-fraud claim preempted and determined that the named plaintiff lacked standing to rely on allegations relating to the company’s web-based advertising because she did not visit the Website before purchasing the product. The plaintiff also abandoned her federal law-based claim. According to the court, the plaintiff has dietary restrictions that prohibit her from eating certain animal-based food products such as pork. She allegedly purchased the defendant’s Nature Made® Vitamin D tablets after carefully reading the product label to ensure it did not contain animal byproducts. Her complaint alleges that the tablets were coated…
