Snack maker Snyder’s Lance, Inc. has filed a motion to dismiss an amended class complaint filed by representative plaintiffs alleging that the company misleads consumers by labeling its products as “natural” when they contain genetically modified ingredients. Barron v. Snyder’s Lance, Inc., No. 13-62496 (S.D. Fla., Miami Div., motion filed March 10, 2014). Among other matters, the company argues that the plaintiffs’ “premium price” theory of harm is not plausible, they lack standing to seek injunctive relief and their failure to address their understanding of the term “natural” is fatal to their claims. As to the price theory, Snyder’s-Lance contends that the plaintiffs’ claims require the court to assume that price differences between its products and those of “rival brands” are based solely on the “natural” labeling. According to the company, the alleged price differential could be due to any number of other factors, such as better taste, more appealing…
Category Archives U.S. Circuit Courts
A federal court in California has determined that the tasks an employee performed only when working the closing shift for Starbucks Corp. consumed a de minimis amount of time and thus dismissed his claims that the company violated the state Labor Code by failing to pay him for that time. Troester v. Starbucks Corp., No. 12-7677 (C.D. Cal., order entered March 7, 2014). According to the court, the software Starbucks used during the relevant time period required an employee to clock out before initiating the store closing procedure, which involved setting the store alarm and locking the door, tasks that took no more than one to two minutes. Other tasks the employee undertook included walking employees to their cars or staying with them until they were picked up, placing forgotten patio furniture indoors, or even re-entering the store to retrieve an employee’s personal belongings. In the court’s view, “[e]ven assuming all…
A federal court in Florida has dismissed, without prejudice, a putative statewide class action filed against Amy’s Kitchen, alleging that the company misleads consumers by identifying the sugar in its products as “evaporated cane juice” (ECJ). Reilly v. Amy’s Kitchen, Inc., No. 13-21525 (S.D. Fla., order entered March 7, 2014). The court agreed with the company that, because the court had previously dismissed claims as to products the representative plaintiff had not purchased, the plaintiff could not, at the time she filed the complaint, meet the Class Action Fairness Act’s (CAFA’s) jurisdictional threshold of $5 million. Information about the court’s earlier ruling appears in Issue 507 of this Update. While jurisdictional facts are assessed at the time of removal, and post-removal events do not deprive courts of subject matter jurisdiction under CAFA, “if a claim of the required jurisdictional amount is made in good faith, the claim controls unless it…
A California resident has filed a putative statewide class action against PepsiCo, Inc., alleging that the company “touts Pepsi One as follows—‘Full Flavor and One Calorie are now living in complete harmony inside Pepsi One—the drink that unites the taste of regular cola with all the things you like about diet cola’"—without disclosing that it contains the caramel-coloring chemical 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI), identified by the state as a carcinogen under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65). Ree v. PepsiCo, Inc., No. 14-0328 (C.D. Cal., filed March 4, 2014). According to the complaint, the absence of the disclosure “was a material and substantial factor which influenced [the plaintiff’s] decision to purchase Pepsi One. In fact, Plaintiff would not have purchased the Product had she known that it contained 4-MEI well in excess of Proposition 65 guidelines.” The plaintiff includes information from a Consumer Reports article about…
According to a news source, counsel for POM Wonderful LLC has urged federal district court Judge Dean Pregerson to decertify the nationwide class action he certified in consolidated false advertising multidistrict litigation, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Comcast v. Behrend and the plaintiffs’ failure to establish a valid damages model supported the company’s request. In re POM Wonderful LLC Mktg. & Sales Practices Litig., MDL No. 2199 (C.D. Cal., motion argued March 3, 2014). Additional information about the court’s decision to certify the class appears in Issue 457 of this Update. While the judge did not rule on the motion, he apparently expressed skepticism about whether the plaintiffs would be able to establish that class members purchased the juice for its various advertised health benefits only, rather than buying it for other reasons, such as taste, color or shelf location. He also reportedly asked whether the class certification…
A federal court in Washington, D.C., has reportedly refused to reconsider its denial of hundreds of claims by African-American farmers who alleged that they were owed a share of the $1.25-billion settlement fund established to compensate a class of farmers allegedly discriminated against by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) loan application process. In re Black Farmers Discrimination Litig., No. 08-0511 (D.D.C., order entered March 5, 2014). Information about the lawsuit and a dispute over attorney’s fees appears in Issue 490 of this Update. According to a news source, the court determined that it lacked authority to alter the terms of the settlement agreement, which provided that claims determinations would be considered final and not subject to court review. “This may be cold comfort to claimants who feel that their claims were denied in error; but without the Settlement Agreement, the amount of relief attainable by members of the plaintiff…
According to a news source, the plaintiffs and defendants in litigation over a respiratory condition allegedly caused by the daily consumption of microwave popcorn containing the butter-flavoring compound diacetyl have settled the claims following a court’s reduction of the jury’s $7-million verdict to $5.78 million, including fees and costs. Watson v. Dillon Cos., Inc., No. 08-91 (D. Colo.). Additional details about the litigation appear in Issue 497 of this Update. Plaintiffs’ counsel Ken McClain reportedly indicated that the settlement terms were confidential. See Law360, February 24, 2014. Issue 515
A federal court in New York has refused to dismiss claims alleging that Bumble Bee Foods is strictly liable for and was negligent in failing to warn about the mercury in its products in a lawsuit alleging personal injury from excessive consumption of the company’s tuna products, which contain methylmercury. Porrazzo v. Bumble Bee Foods, LLC, No. 10-4367 (S.D.N.Y., order entered February 27, 2014). An earlier ruling in the case is summarized in Issue 413 of this Update. The plaintiff, who apparently consumed one to two cans of tuna daily for more than two years and was diagnosed with dangerously high levels of mercury in his body, also brought claims for breach of implied warranty of merchantability and violations of certain state statutory provisions involving agricultural and business law. The court found that the issues argued in Bumble Bee’s motion for summary judgment involved genuine issues of material fact that…
A federal court in New York has denied the motion for summary judgment filed by the defendant in litigation alleging that it mislabeled its industrially processed olive-pomace oil as “100% Pure Olive Oil.” Ebin v. Kangadis Food Inc. d/b/a The Gourmet Factory, No. 13-2311 (S.D.N.Y., order entered February 25, 2014). Details about the court’s grant of the plaintiffs’ motion to certify a class appear in Issue 507 of this Update. The court rejected, again, the defendant’s argument that its Capatriti olive-pomace oil is, as a matter of law, olive oil. According to the court, “there exists more than sufficient evidence for a trier of fact to determine that Capatriti is not 100% pure olive oil. Capatriti has more trans-fat and fewer antioxidants than virgin olive oil, is tasteless, is made from the seed and skin rather than the flesh of the olive, and undergoes chemical treatment with solvents, rather than a…
A federal court in California has granted a motion for sanctions filed by Jackson Family Wines, which brought an infringement action against Diageo North America; an adverse inference instruction will be given to the jury during trial, and the plaintiff will be able to recover the costs of its efforts to secure a Diageo marketing department employee’s documents, destroyed while the lawsuit was pending. Jackson Family Wines v. Diageo N. Am., Inc., No. 11-5639 (N.D. Cal., order entered February 14, 2014). At issue in the litigation is the alleged infringement of Jackson’s La Crema wine by Diageo’s Crème de Lys wine brand. The employee whose laptop was “imaged” outside the firm after she temporarily left Diageo’s employ was, in Diageo’s words, “the conduit between Diageo’s marketing team and Northstar [Research Partners, LLC], the third-party market research company” that conducted focus groups for the selection of the Crème de Lys brand.…
