The estate of Logan Stiner, an Ohio teenager who died in May 2014 after ingesting pure caffeine powder purchased from Amazon, has filed a lawsuit against the online retailer and the companies that manufacture and market the powder. Stiner v. Amazon.com Inc., No. 15CV185837 (C.P. Lorain Cty., filed March 6, 2015). According to the complaint, “pure caffeine is a drug” under Ohio law, but the powder manufacturers have “successfully avoided meaningful regulation of [the] product by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by classifying their product as a ‘dietary supplement,’” which leaves them “responsible for determining that pure caffeine powder is safe.” The companies “failed to alert users of the known risks and side effects of ingesting caffeine powder, including the risk of cardiac arrhythmia and cardiac arrest,” the reaction that killed Stiner, the complaint says. The estate also alleges that the companies did not conduct adequate testing of…
Category Archives State Courts
A Colorado state court has approved the settlements of several wrongful death and personal injury suits against 14 defendants—including Jensen Farms—stemming from the sale of cantaloupe tainted with Listeria that killed 33 people in 2011. Exley v. Jensen Farms, No. 2011-1891 (Colo. D.C., Arapahoe Cty., order entered March 5, 2015). The court dismissed 24 of 26 cases pursuant to the settlement agreement reached in February 2015, remanded one case to a Texas court and left the dismissal of the last case to a probate court because it regards a minor. The settlement terms are confidential, but according to plaintiffs’ attorney Bill Marler, the medical expenses total more than $12 million. Details about the criminal charges against the brothers who own Jensen Farms appear in Issue 500 of this Update. See Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 11, 2015. Issue 558
A California appeals court has rejected a Napa restaurant’s attempt to circumvent the state’s foie gras ban by describing it as a gift for ordering another dish then arguing that a resulting suit brought by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) seeking an injunction was merely a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) in violation of the state anti-SLAPP statute. Animal Legal Def. Fund v. LT Napa Partners LLC, No. A139615 (Cal. Ct. App., order entered March 5, 2015). Additional information on the foie gras ban, which a California federal court struck down in January 2015, appears in Issue 550 of this Update. Kenneth Frank, the head chef at Napa’s La Toque restaurant, was a vocal opponent of California’s foie gras ban; he testified at state senate hearings, participated in public debates and authored a newspaper opinion piece on the subject. On three occasions, ALDF sent an investigator to La Toque…
A California appeals court has affirmed a lower court’s ruling dismissing a putative class action alleging that Safeway misbranded its Lucerne-brand of Greek yogurt because U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations prohibit the use of “milk protein concentrate” (MPC) in foods labeled as yogurt. Tamas v. Safeway, Inc., No. RIC1206341 (Cal. Ct. App., 4th Dist., Div. 3, order entered February 23, 2015). The plaintiff argued that a 1981 FDA regulation determining yogurt’s “Standard of Identity” (SOI) dictated what ingredients are allowable in products sold as yogurt despite the agency’s stay of the regulation soon after it was issued. FDA promised to schedule a public hearing on the regulation but, as of January 2009, “due to competing priorities and limited resources, FDA has not held a public hearing to resolve these issues and the effective date for these provisions remains stayed. Therefore, these provisions were never in effect. Consequently, cultured milk…
The University of California, Davis, and the California Strawberry Commission (CSC) have issued a joint press release announcing the settlement of CSC’s lawsuit and the university’s countersuit. CSC initially alleged that the university allowed two of its strawberry developers to leave its employment to privatize the cultivation process using money provided by CSC growers, and the university filed a counterclaim accusing CSC of unfair business practices. Conclusion of the lawsuit coincided with the university’s hiring of Steven Knapp, former global director of Monsanto’s Vegetable Research and Development, who will oversee the university’s new strawberry breeding program. “Over the next five years, UC Davis will release new strawberry varieties available to all farmers, and the California Strawberry Commission will assist UC Davis in its identification of new commercial varieties,” the press release states. In addition, “a new strawberry advisory committee will be formed, comprised of university representatives, strawberry farmers and commission…
Several organizations, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Working Group and Center for Food Safety as well as the city of Berkeley, California, have filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Food and Agriculture to contest the agency’s approval of a pest management plan that allows pesticide spraying on organic farms, schools and residential yards. Envtl. Working Grp. v. Cal. Dep’t of Food and Agric., No. RG15755648 (Super. Ct. Cal., Alameda Cty., filed January 22, 2015). The groups challenge the alleged lack of evidence supporting the conclusion that the program will have no effect on Californians’ health and argue that the plan violates state environmental laws, including the requirement of public notice before spraying pesticides and the requirement to analyze the impacts on human and environmental health. A January 22, 2015, Center for Biological Diversity press release asserts that the agency received 30,000 opposition letters to the program.…
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…
Three consumers have filed three separate putative class actions against Whole Foods Inc., Wegmans Food Markets Inc. and Acme Markets Inc. in New Jersey state court alleging that the grocery chains falsely represent their bread and bakery products as freshly made in-store. Mladenov v. Whole Foods, docket number unavailable (Super. Ct. N.J., Camden Cty., filed December 16, 2014); Mladenov v. Wegmans Foods Mkts., Inc., docket number unavailable (Super. Ct. N.J., Camden Cty., filed December 16, 2014); Mao v. Acme Mkts., Inc., docket number unavailable (Super. Ct. N.J., Camden Cty., filed December 16, 2014). The complaints allege violations of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act based on advertisements indicating that the bread and bakery products sold by the three companies were made in-store daily despite being “frozen, delivered to its stores, and then re-baked or partially baked in store,” according to the complaint against Acme. Each plaintiff seeks class certification, injunctive…
Oregon farmers who grow genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa have filed a complaint seeking a declaration that a May 20, 2014, Jackson County ordinance banning GE crops in the county conflicts with state law, or, in the alternative, damages “as just compensation for the forced destruction of their property.” Schulz Family Farms LLC v. Jackson Cty., No. 14CV17636 (Jackson Cty. Cir. Ct., Ore., filed November 18, 2014). Claiming that (i) neighbors had never complained about its GE crops, which are allegedly “more convenient and profitable to grow than conventional alfalfa,” and (ii) the farm will have to tear out GE crops already planted and refrain from replanting conventional alfalfa for four years, the Schulz Family Farms alleges damages in excess of $2.2 million. Similarly, plaintiff James Frink alleges that he will have to tear out already-planted GE alfalfa and “lose the benefit of the ten-year crop life if forced to tear out…
A putative class action alleging that Conopco Inc., a subsidiary of Unilever United States, mislabeled Breyers ice cream as “all natural” has been voluntarily dismissed with prejudice. Jefferson v. Conopco, No. L-7025-14 (Super. Ct. N.J., Bergen Cty., stipulation of voluntary dismissal filed December 1, 2014). The plaintiff alleged that Breyers’ use of cocoa processed with alkali (Dutch process cocoa) contains the artificial ingredient potassium carbonate, which he argued should preclude the company from labeling its products as natural. The brief stipulation indicates that each party will pay its own attorney’s fees and costs. Additional information about the lawsuit appears in Issue 531 of this Update. Issue 547
