The European Commission has reportedly indicated that it will file a World Trade Organization (WTO) challenge to the U.S. decision to impose new tariffs on European Union (EU) products involved in sanctions stemming from a dispute over beef hormones. The EU has banned hormone-treated beef since the early 1980s, and the WTO ruled in 1998 that the ban violated trade rules, thus opening the door for U.S. and Canadian trade sanctions. While the EU contends that it has scientific grounds to support the ban, the United States and Canada have maintained their trade sanctions against the European bloc. According to a French Roquefort cheese producer, 100 percent tariffs have been imposed on his products for nine years; a new sanctions update has increased the penalty to 300 percent. “Sales of Roquefort to the United States will be finished,” he reportedly said. At issue is a Bush administration decision to suspend the…
Category Archives Litigation
Whole Foods Market, Inc. has reportedly withdrawn from U.S. district court its due process challenge to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) antitrust proceedings against the company’s merger with Wild Oats Markets, Inc. The case was then refiled before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. According to a Whole Foods executive, “Whole Foods Market is interested in getting to the merits of this case as quickly as possible rather than spending everyone’s valuable time and resources arguing about jurisdiction. Filing with the Court of Appeals, which the FTC concedes has jurisdiction over the case, saves time and we want to move this case forward in the most expeditious manner for all concerned.” Additional details about Whole Foods’ petition appear in issue 285 of this Update. The FTC’s administrative hearings are scheduled to begin April 6, 2009, and Whole Foods claims that the commission has already prejudged the case. See PR Newswire, January…
With hundreds of foods containing potentially contaminated peanut butter being recalled daily, plaintiffs’ lawyers across the nation have begun to file claims against producers, suppliers, retailers, and others in the supply chain. Food claims lawyer William Marler has reportedly brought an action against the Virginia-based Peanut Corp. of America on behalf of Vermont residents Gabrielle and Daryl Meunier whose 7-year-old son was among the nearly 500 people purportedly sickened by the Salmonella typhimurium traced to a Peanut Corp. processing plant in Georgia. According to a news source, the Meunier’s son spent six days in the hospital after consuming cheese and peanut butter crackers. A Minnesota-based food safety lawyer reportedly plans to file a claim against Peanut Corp. and its distributor, King Nut Companies, on behalf of the family of a 72-year-old woman who allegedly died in December 2008 after eating Salmonella-contaminated peanut butter served at a long-term care facility in Minnesota. In…
Hundreds of parents of children sickened in China by melamine-contaminated milk products have reportedly rejected the government-sanctioned compensation offer, which would have provided about US$29,000 to families that lost a child and US$4,380 for each child with serious kidney damage. The parents, who are gathering signatures in support of their demands, will instead seek long-term health care for those affected and research into the health effects that purportedly continue to afflict tens of thousands of children. They also apparently complain that the offer provides nothing for children older than age 3 and will not provide assistance to the dozens of families facing significant hospital bills. Zhao Lianhai, whose 4-year-old son was sickened, reportedly said in an interview, “Our biggest demand is not the compensation but medical treatment and academic research on the influence that melamine will have on the health of our children. We want to know what kinds of…
While a federal district court approved the settlement of class claims that melamine-tainted dog and cat food sickened and/or killed tens of thousands of pets in the United States, the pet owners who were expecting compensation in 2009 will apparently have to await the outcome of two separate appeals filed in December 2008. According to the claims administrator’s Web site, “No payments will be made on eligible claims until all appeals are resolved. It is uncertain how long these appeals will take to resolve, and the timing of resolving the appeals is not within the control of the parties or their counsel. It is not uncommon for appeals to take several months or even years to resolve.” As noted in issues 275 and 283 of this Update, those dissatisfied with the settlement have claimed that (i) it will foreclose their ability to recover for their separate claims that pet food…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), continuing to challenge the merger of Whole Foods Market, Inc. with Wild Oats Markets, Inc, has reportedly indicated in court filings that it will seek a court order requiring Whole Foods to rename the Wild Oats stores that were changed into Whole Foods stores and rebrand them as Wild Oats. The FTC also apparently said that a trustee should be appointed to separately manage Wild Oats assets to preserve the status quo in the organic foods market until all legal proceedings have concluded. The $565 million merger has been completed, but the FTC convinced an appeals court in 2008 to allow the administrative antitrust proceedings to resume. Responding to the latest filing, Whole Foods reportedly stated, “Not only have they found us guilty before the final evidence is in, now they want to impose a burdensome remedy even before the first word of final evidence…
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a petition seeking review of a California Supreme Court ruling that allowed plaintiffs to pursue putative class claims alleging that grocery stores failed to inform California consumers about the artificial coloring used in the farm-raised salmon they sold. Albertson’s Inc. v. Kanter, No. 07-1327 (U.S., certiorari denied January 12, 2009). The retailers had asked the Court to find the claims preempted by the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The case should now proceed to trial. Food and Drug Administration regulations allow salmon farmers to augment the normally grayish pigment of farm-raised fish with chemicals, but also require that the use of coloring be indicated on product labels. Federal law does not allow individuals to enforce the law through litigation, but it does not, according to attorneys involved in the case, bar civil lawsuits for violations of state law. The litigation was brought on both federal and…
A California woman who claimed that Wendy’s International, Inc. violated state consumer protection laws by misrepresenting the trans fat content of its French fries and fried chicken products has entered a settlement agreement with the fast-food company. Yoo v. Wendy’s Int’l, Inc., No. 07-4515 (C.D. Cal., settlement filed December 2008). For purposes of the settlement, the parties agreed to the certification of a nationwide class of those who purchased Wendy’s fries and chicken for the past two years. Without conceding any liability, Wendy’s agreed to (i) eliminate trans fat from its frying process, (ii) submit to independent testing, (iii) donate $1.8 million to cancer, diabetes and heart associations, and (iv) not oppose a fee award of up to $1.09 million to class counsel in the Yoo action. Attorneys representing class claimants in similar litigation filed in New York and Florida will share the fee distribution. Wendy’s also agreed to attribute the $2.2…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has apparently prevailed in proceedings seeking injunctive relief against two New Mexico dairies that “were not keeping adequate medication records to prevent unsafe drug residues in cattle offered for slaughter” and “were using medications for unapproved indications not specified on the drug label” without a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship. The companies, Do-Rene and Clover Knolls Dairies, were warned about these violations in 2005 and 2008 following inspections and tissue sampling. Apparently, some of the dairies’ cows tested positive for illegal levels of a number of drugs, including one “expressly forbidden for use in lactating cows.” According to FDA, “These residues may cause allergic reactions in extremely sensitive individuals, and they may contribute to forming antibiotic-resistance in bacteria.” Future violations may result in civil or criminal penalties. See FDA Press Release, January 2, 2009.
According to news sources, litigation has been filed in California challenging a new law that prohibits the sale or distribution of food from nonambulatory livestock. One of the suits, filed in late December 2008 by the National Meat Association, claims that the state’s hog industry should be exempt. An association spokesperson reportedly indicated that “hog fatigue” causes hogs to lie down occasionally, but that nothing is wrong with these animals. The American Meat Institute (AMI) filed a motion to intervene, arguing that the law as a whole is preempted by the Federal Meat Inspection Act. An AMI press release notes, “on some occasions all species can become injured even until the last minutes before processing, but an injury like a broken ankle does not automatically make livestock unfit for consumption.” The California law (A.B. 2098), effective January 1, 2009, amended the state penal code by proscribing any slaughterhouse use of…
