A Missouri federal court has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the “all natural” labels of Cape Cod Chips because the plaintiff failed to provide a suitable definition of “natural.” Kelly v. Cape Cod Potato Chip Co., No. 14-119 (W.D. Mo., order entered January 27, 2015). The plaintiff alleged that 16 varieties of Cape Cod Chips were advertised as “all natural” and made without preservatives despite containing 13 artificial and synthetic ingredients. The court reviewed the definitions of “natural” submitted by the plaintiff and found them each lacking. It first dismissed the dictionary definition, “existing or produced by nature: not artificial,” as “not plausible because the Chips are processed foods, which of course do not exist or occur in nature.” The definition of “natural” found in an informal advisory opinion from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was not binding, the court found, because the agency “specifically declined to adopt any…
Category Archives Litigation
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) order that found POM Wonderful’s advertising to be misleading for claiming that its products treat or reduce the risk of several medical conditions, including prostate cancer and heart disease. POM Wonderful, LLC v. FTC, No. 13-1060 (D.C. Cir., order entered January 30, 2015). In 2013, FTC ordered POM to stop making misleading health claims about its product, and POM challenged the ruling. POM argued that its ads were protected by the First Amendment, but the court dismissed this argument, finding that deceptive and misleading ads have no First Amendment protection. The juice company also asserted that it had clinical studies to support its health claims. The circuit court affirmed FTC’s finding that POM had cherry-picked its results when presenting them to the public, which invalidated them as support for the claims. The court agreed with POM, however, that…
District attorneys in California’s Yolo, Sacramento and San Joaquin counties have reportedly filed a lawsuit in state court alleging that R.F. Palmer Co. advertised its “Too Tall Bunny” product in violation of the unfair business practices, false advertising and unfair competition provisions of the California Business and Professions Code. The chocolatier apparently packaged the chocolate bunny in a box similar in size to its competition but asserted that the bunny was “Too Tall” and displayed the ears in plastic popping out of the top of the box. The bunny sat on a cardboard insert at the bottom of the box, and without that insert, the bunny was the same size as other similar products, the prosecutors argued. The district attorneys reportedly reached an agreement with the Pennsylvania-based chocolatier bore filing the case to ensure compliance; the court issued a final judgment the same day—a civil penalty of $2,500 for each…
A Pennsylvania federal court has denied H.J. Heinz Co.’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit alleging that the company stole the idea for the “Dip & Squeeze” ketchup packet. Wawrzynski v. H.J. Heinz Co., No. 11-1098 (W.D. Penn., order entered January 7, 2015). The plaintiff asserts that he met with the company in 2008 and presented the idea for the dual-opening packet, but they never reached a deal; Heinz later released its Dip & Squeeze packet, which the plaintiff argues was too similar to his concept. The court noted that although Heinz presented evidence showing that it was actively developing a dual-function condiment container before meeting with the plaintiff, the plaintiff had also shown that Heinz had been unsuccessful in creating or marketing a feasible container. “Given the evidence presented by both parties to this lawsuit,” the court concluded, “whether either or both of Plaintiff’s ideas were novel and concrete…
A New York federal court has granted conditional class certification to plaintiffs employed by T.G.I. Friday’s who allege underpayment for side work and lack of payment for overtime work in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Flood v. Carlson Restaurants Inc., No. 14-2740 (S.D.N.Y., filed April 17, 2014). The restaurant employs as many as 42,000 tipped workers throughout the United States who are eligible to join the nationwide class. T.G.I. Friday’s argued that the named plaintiffs were not similar enough to merit class certification, but the court disagreed, finding that the plaintiffs’ “declarations and depositions—which cover eight T.G.I. Friday’s locations in four states—contain common allegations of FLSA violations, including Defendants’ denial of full minimum wage and overtime compensation for tipped workers.” The court dismissed the restaurant’s arguments on the merits of the case, noting that those issues could not be addressed at the class certification stage, and directed…
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari to a coalition of California raisin growers that challenged a federal rule requiring them to give a portion of their annual harvests to a crop-specific committee that in turn sells the reserves for export or donates them to school lunch programs or foreign governments. Horne v. USDA, No. 14-275 (U.S., certiorari granted January 16, 2015). The coalition contends that the portion of the harvest that its growers set aside constitutes a taking under the Fifth Amendment, which guarantees just compensation for such acts. They assert that for the 2002-2003 season, they were required to set aside 47 percent of their raisin crops, and the named plaintiffs were paid less than the cost of production; in the 2003-2004 season, they allegedly set aside 30 percent and were not paid at all. The coalition argues that, in a split from other circuits, the Ninth Circuit…
Two days after filing a lawsuit alleging that Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. infringed its stylized label trademark featuring the letters “IPA,” Lagunitas Brewing Co. filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice in the case and its owner, Tony Magee, publicly commented that he had been “seriously schooled” by the “Court of Public Opinion” following a wave of social media backlash. The Lagunitas Brewing Co. v. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., No 15-153 (N.D. Cal., notice of voluntary dismissal filed January 14, 2015). The complaint alleged that Sierra Nevada’s label for its new Hop Hunter IPA, in a “radical departure” from its typical label designs, infringed the Lagunitas trademark on “large, all-capital, bold, black and centralized ‘IPA’ lettering.” The complaint further argued that “[w]hen Lagunitas began selling its now iconic IPA beer in 1995, there existed only a handful of other brewers who produced an India Pale Ale, and, on information and…
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court’s ruling that unauthorized public use of the Scarlet Royal and Autumn King varieties of table grapes does not invalidate the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) patents on them. Delano Farms Co. v. Cal. Table Grape Comm’n., No. 2014-1030 (Fed. Cir., order entered January 9, 2015). The appellants, three farming companies, had challenged the patents on the grounds that they were in public use for more than a year before the date of the patent applications. According to the facts determined by a lower court’s bench trial, the mature fruit of grape varieties were exhibited at an experimental variety open house in 2001 at California State University, Fresno. Without authorization, a USDA employee gave a grape grower the plant materials for the unreleased varieties, and that grower in turn gave the materials to his brother and cousin in addition to…
Society Insurance has filed a lawsuit in Iowa federal court seeking a declaration that its policy does not require it to defend or indemnify Templeton Rye Spirits in a putative consumer class action alleging that the whiskey distiller falsely represented its products as made from a Prohibition-era recipe. Soc’y Ins. v. Templeton Rye Spirits LLC, No. 15-0005 (S.D. Iowa, filed January 5, 2015). The underlying lawsuit asserts that Templeton claims its whiskey is made in a “small batch” from a Prohibition-era recipe that was a favorite of Al Capone’s, but that the product is actually distilled at an MGP Ingredients, Inc. factory in accordance with a stock MGP recipe. Society seeks a judicial declaration that Templeton’s insurance policy, which Society argues covers only damages based on bodily injury, property damage or personal and advertising injury, will not require Society to indemnify a settlement or judgment against Templeton. The insurance company argues…
Philip Payne, the former operations manager of Halal-food company Midamar Corp., has pled guilty to a charge of conspiracy to make and deliver false certificates and writings stemming from Midamar’s export of beef to Indonesia and Malaysia purportedly prepared in accordance with Islamic law. U.S. v. Payne, No. 14-cr-0143 (N.D. Iowa, request for approval filed January 7, 2015). In his plea agreement, Payne admitted that Midamar attempted to meet the rise in Halal meat demand by supplying kosher beef slaughtered by rabbis without any oversight from a Muslim slaughterman. Several executives at Midamar have been charged with making false statements on export certificates, committing wire fraud and laundering money, allegations to which founder William B. Aossey Jr. and two of his sons pled not guilty in December 2014. A trial on those charges is set for February 17, 2015. Issue 550
