A California superior court has dismissed with prejudice putative class claims filed against McDonald’s Corp. seeking to enjoin the company from advertising Happy Meals® to children featuring toys. Parham v. McDonald’s Corp., No. 10-506178 (Cal. Super. Ct., San Francisco Cty., decided April 4, 2012). Additional information about the case appears in Issues 375, 391 and 420 of this Update. While the court did not explain why it sustained the company’s demurrers to the plaintiff’s first, second and third causes of action, it did so without giving the plaintiff leave to amend her complaint. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), which was representing the plaintiff, consideration is being given to filing an appeal. In its memorandum of law in support of its demurrers, the company argued that the plaintiff failed to state a claim for relief under the state’s Unfair Competition Law, Consumers Legal Remedies Act…
Category Archives Litigation
Contending that snack maker Frito-Lay North America makes “improper nutrient content claims on products containing disqualifying levels of fat, saturated fat, cholesterol or sodium,” a new plaintiff has filed a putative class action against the company and its parent in a California federal court. Wilson v. Frito-Lay N. Am., Inc., No. 12-1586 (N.D. Cal., filed March 29, 2012). Several other cases have recently been filed against the company, challenging its “all natural” claims for products allegedly containing genetically modified ingredients. The new action targets the company’s “0 grams of trans fat” representations on its Lay’s Classic Chips® “despite disqualifying levels of fat that far exceed the 13g disclosure level.” The plaintiff reportedly cites Food and Drug Administration warnings to other companies “for the same type of improper 0 grams trans fat nutrient content claims at issue in this case.” See Foodnavigator-usa.com, April 4, 2012.
A federal court in Iowa has dismissed claims filed by a legal defense fund and a number of raw-milk producers challenging Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations prohibiting the shipment of raw milk for human consumption across state lines. Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund v. Sebelius, No. 10-4018 (N.D. Iowa, decided March 30, 2012). According to the court, none of the plaintiffs alleged that “the FDA has applied or sought to apply the challenged regulations to them, and Wagoner’s contentions are merely conclusory and based on speculation.” Raw milk producer Eric Wagoner had apparently alleged that a Georgia Department of Agriculture official “ordered an embargo of raw milk that he had transported from South Carolina, where it is legal to buy raw milk, to Georgia, where it is not” and claimed that “the embargo was ordered at the direction of the FDA.” There was no evidence of FDA involvement, and because…
A federal court in Texas has determined that a trademark and patent infringement lawsuit involving Frito-Lay North America’s corn chip products can be maintained in the Eastern District of Texas because it has jurisdiction over the defendants and the defendants failed to show that it was “clearly more convenient” to litigate the matter in Arkansas. Frito-Lay N. Am., Inc. v. Medallion Foods, Inc., No. 12-74 (E.D. Tex., order entered March 30, 2012). Details about the case are included in Issue 427 of this Update. According to the court, after Frito-Lay notified the defendants that their BOWLZ product infringed its patent and trade dress rights, the defendants filed a complaint for declaratory relief in the Eastern District of Arkansas. Frito-Lay filed its suit the same day in the Eastern District of Texas. The Arkansas court stayed that action pending the Texas court’s ruling on jurisdiction and venue, noting that “[i]f the…
The U.S. Supreme Court has invited the U.S. solicitor general to submit a brief addressing the issues raised in a dispute over patent exhaustion and second-generation genetically modified (GM) seeds. Bowman v. Monsanto Co., No. 11-796 (U.S., order entered April 2, 2012). An Indiana farmer, who was found to have infringed Monsanto’s patents by planting the Roundup Ready® soybeans he purchased from a grain elevator, filed a petition for certiorari, arguing that when the company sold its patented seeds to a different farmer, who later sold the soybeans to the grain elevator, it exhausted its rights to that seed and all of its descendants. He was not required to sign a licensing agreement before buying “commodity” soybeans and thus claims that he was free to plant them and then save and replant each crop in future seasons. Monsanto reportedly contends that each generation is a separate product and that the…
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has appealed a ruling made by a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel against the United States in a dispute with Mexico and Canada over country-of-origin labeling (COOL) laws for beef and pork products. Responding to complaints filed by Canada and Mexico, WTO’s Dispute Settlement Panel ruled in November 2011 that although the United States has the right to require COOL regulations, specific requirements enacted in 2008 such as those calling for segregation of imported livestock before processing provide less favorable treatment to Canadian and Mexican livestock. The ruling was covered in Issue 419 of this Update. According to the appeal, USTR found several errors in the panel’s ruling and contends, among other issues, that its COOL labeling does not impose unfavorable treatment of imported products because it “requires meat derived from both imported and domestic livestock to be labeled under the exact…
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed in part a district court dismissal of claims that being fed nutriloaf in a county jail subjected an inmate to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights. Prude v. Clarke, No. 11-2811 (7th Cir., decided March 27, 2012). The plaintiff was apparently serving time in a state prison facility but was transferred to and stayed in a county jail on several occasions during court proceedings on his post-conviction petition. He was fed only “nutriloaf,” “a bad-tasting food given to prisoners as a form of punishment” and, during his third stay at the county facility began vomiting and experiencing stomach pains and constipation. He ultimately lost 8.3 percent of his weight. According to the court, “[t]he defendants’ response to his suit has been contumacious, and we are surprised that the district judge did not impose sanctions. The defendants ignored…
A federal court in Tennessee has dismissed the two remaining claims in antitrust litigation filed by certain retail processed milk sellers against Dean Foods Co. and the Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. In re: Se. Milk Antitrust Litig., No. 08-1000 (E.D. Tenn., decided March 27, 2012) (ruling applies to Food Lion, LLC v. Dean Foods Co., No. 07-188). At issue were claims for violation of sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act (agreement not to compete and conspiracy to monopolize). The court found that the plaintiffs’ expert failed to “create a material issue of fact on the question of whether the price increases were ‘by reason of’ an illegal conspiracy in violation of the antitrust laws and Plaintiffs do not allege an injury of the kind which the antitrust laws are designed to prevent.” Because the plaintiffs were unable to establish antitrust injury, the court determined that the defendants…
A federal court in California has granted in part and denied in part the motion to dismiss filed by Quaker Oats in consolidated cases alleging that the company falsely advertises products such as granola bars and instant oatmeal containing small amounts of trans fats as healthy. In re: Quaker Oats Labeling Litig., No. 10-502 (N.D. Cal., decided March 28, 2012). According to the court, the plaintiffs’ “primary contention” is that consuming “any amount of artificial ‘trans fat’ is unhealthy, and that therefore various aspects of the labeling on Quaker’s products” are false and misleading under California law. The court earlier determined that some of the claims were preempted by federal law. Additional information about the litigation appears in Issue 369 of this Update. Regarding the plaintiffs’ expanded pleadings, which complain of “various additional statements and images on Chewy Bars, Instant Oatmeal, and Oatmeal To Go Bars,” the court refused to…
Del Monte Fresh Produce has reportedly informed Oregon Public Health and state Senior Epidemiologist William Keene that it will not act on its notice to sue over their identification of the company’s imported cantaloupes as the source of a 2011 Salmonella outbreak. Additional details about the litigation threat appear in Issue 408 of this Update. While a spokesperson refused to comment on the company’s action, its letter apparently indicated that the withdrawal was “a show of good faith” in its food safety discussions with the state; it is seeking a meeting with state food safety scientists. Del Monte Fresh Produce also sued the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), claiming that the agency lacked an adequate factual basis to conclude that the company’s Guatemalan cantaloupe supplier was the source of the contamination. The company sought to lift FDA’s import alert which prohibited it from importing from its Guatemalan source without proving the…
