Shook Partner Greg Wu will join "Recent Trends in Food and Beverage Labeling Litigation," a panel moderated by Partner Amir Nassihi, at the American Bar Association's (ABA's) Hot Topics in Toxic Torts and Environmental Law conference in Coronado, California, on April 6, 2019. The panelists will "take a broad look at the types of cases being filed, the key legal issues currently in play, and recent developments impacting litigation of these high exposure cases." Conference registration is open to members and non-members of the ABA.
Category Archives Spotlight
Class action litigation, the legal landscape for cannabis and the evolving implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) were trending topics at the 2019 Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) Legal Conference. Numerous panels at the conference focused on emerging issues affecting the industry and anticipated trends moving forward, including implications of whole genome sequencing; how courts view the confluence of First Amendment rights and mandated advertising content; and standards-of-identity issues related to non-dairy milks, non-animal meats and cell-grown meats. Shook Partners Katie Gates Calderon, Phil Goldberg and Jim Muehlberger presented with Courtney Ozer, Assistant General Counsel – Litigation for Unilever United States, and Suzanne Werner, Litigation Counsel – The Coca-Cola Company, on strategies for avoiding and defending against claims involving product testing. The panel discussed (i) assembling a crisis-management team, which should include key company stakeholders, inside counsel, public-relations and governmental-relations personnel; (ii) understanding the pending lawsuit, which involves robustly…
The Nutrition Business Journal spoke to Shook Partner Cary Silverman on the rise of lawsuits stemming from "clean labels" listed on food products. While consumers may want easier-to-read labels, this shortened language may open the door to potential lawsuits. Silverman, who co-authored the 2017 report “The Food Court: Trends in Food and Beverage Class Action Litigation,” for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, says that transparency creates skepticism. “I can only imagine the internal battles within food companies between marketing and legal,” Silverman told NBJ. “I understand why a company would want information printed transparently on the front of the package, but on the other hand, there is a reason lawyers like fine print. When you remove the fine print from a label and go with the basics, it could be a plaintiffs’ lawyer’s dream.” Silverman’s report, which was co-authored with Shook Partner Jim Muehlberger, found that 20 food-marketing class actions…
Shook Partner Frank Cruz-Alvarez and Associate Rachel Forman have authored an article for WLF Legal Pulse examining a California federal court's decision to certify a class of consumers alleging they were misled by Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc.'s marketing claim that its products contain no artificial flavoring despite containing malic and fumaric acids. The decision has "thrown the doors open for class certification in food-labeling cases," Cruz-Alvarez and Forman write. "Although packaged-food businesses have responded to years of class-action lawsuits with labeling modifications that make their products less-inviting targets, decisions like Hilsley show that plaintiffs’ lawyers are equally creative and determined to keep the claims coming," the authors conclude. "This is especially true for products labeled as 'natural' or free of artificial ingredients when those products arguably do contain synthetic ingredients, regardless of their purpose. That new angle might just be enough to survive something as rigorous as the class-certification analysis…
Shook Partner Cary Silverman has authored an article for the University of Cincinnati Law Review arguing for a consistent application of the "reasonable consumer" standard in food and beverage litigation. Describing frequent litigation targets such as foods labeled as "natural" and packages containing "excessive slack fill," Silverman explains that in some cases, "a plaintiff's alleged understanding of a product’s marketing is simply contrary to nature or reality." For example, he notes, a complaint alleging that Kind's Vanilla Blueberry Clusters were mislabeled as containing "no refined sugars" was dismissed because no reasonable consumer would interpret the label as meaning raw sugar cane, which is "a grass that contains joined stalks resembling bamboo … surrounded by bark." However, Silverman explains, some courts apply the reasonable consumer standard differently, allowing putative class action complaints to pass through the motion-to-dismiss stage, prompting settlement discussions between the parties. "In slack fill litigation, some courts have…
Shook Partners Paul La Scala and Naoki Kaneko, with Associate Emily Weissenberger, will join Western Growers Vice President and General Counsel Jason Resnick for a complimentary webinar on the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (Prop. 65). The webinar will cover (i) Prop. 65 warnings at facilities; (ii) product labels on packaging and websites; (iii) special considerations for the produce industry; and (iv) the anatomy of a Prop. 65 case.
Shook Partners Frank Rothrock, Naoki Kaneko and Chris Johnson, with Associate Emily Weissenberger, have presented a webinar on California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (Prop. 65). Available on demand, the webinar covers an overview of Prop. 65 and strategies for managing its regulatory scheme.
Shook, Hardy & Bacon has been named the “Top Firm for Food & Beverage” news in the JD Supra 2018 Readers Choice Awards, chosen by readers from more than 50,000 authors whose work was published on the site in 2017. Madeleine McDonough and Mark Anstoetter were ranked first and second “Top Authors” in Food & Beverage out of 800 authors, and McDonough was ranked second in “Top Authors” in the Class Action category.
Litigation, increasing online grocery shopping and consumer concerns regarding product ingredients were hot topics at the 2018 Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) conference. Founded in 1908, GMA comprises more than 250 food, beverage and consumer product companies—collectively, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies—and works as an advocate for its members and the industry. Many of the event’s panels focused on recent developments affecting the industry and expected trends going forward, including panels on Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop. 65) issues, the litigation landscape for CPG companies and pet food litigation issues. Shook Partners Jim Muehlberger and Naoki Kaneko presented with Courtney Ozer, Assistant General Counsel – Litigation for Unilever United States, on trends in class action litigation, noting a continued focus on natural claims—including more claims filed regarding consumer products like lotions, soaps and home care products—and trends stemming from an increased consumer focus on sustainability and…
Shook, Hardy & Bacon Partners Jim Muehlberger and Lindsey Heinz, along with Associate Naoki Kaneko, will present at the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) 2018 Legal Conference February 27-28, 2018, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Heinz will join a “Roundtable Discussion on Legal Issues for Organic Products," which will center on the continual market growth of organics, encompassing food, beverage, personal care and household products. The session will provide a comprehensive review of legal issues surrounding organic products. Muehlberger and Kaneko are presenting “Trends in Consumer Goods Class Action Litigation,” a breakout session that will broadly examine the types of claims the plaintiff’s bar has filed across the consumer goods industry to help companies better anticipate litigation risks.
