African-Americans who briefly worked at a North Carolina farm in 2010 allege that they were subjected to a hostile work environment and discriminatory job conditions so the employer could obtain certification under a Department of Labor (DOL) program that allows farmers to hire seasonal foreign workers when U.S. workers are not available and hiring foreign workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. Fulford v. Alligator River Farms, LLC, No. 11-00103 (E.D.N.C., filed June 20, 2011). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission allegedly issued the plaintiffs a letter of determination relating to their claims. According to the complaint, DOL certification requires that employers undertake specified efforts to recruit U.S. workers after the need for the services of foreign workers (referred to as H-2A workers) arises. Among other matters, the employer must submit a job, or clearance, order to the local state employment agency. The…
A woman who claims she consumed Ramona’s burritos believing they were low in calories and sodium, has filed a putative class action alleging that the company mislabeled its products and that the burritos were much higher in calories and sodium than individual labels in and before 2006 and bulk labels indicated. Solomon v. Ramona’s Mex. Food Prods., Inc., No. BC463914 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., filed June 17, 2011). Concerns about obesity and an inner ear disorder exacerbated by high sodium intake allegedly led the plaintiff to purchase and consume one to two burritos daily beginning in 2006. At that time, single and multiple packages purportedly indicated that each burrito contained 170 calories and 270 mg sodium. Individual burritos were allegedly re-labeled in 2010 to 340 calories and 580 mg sodium, while the bulk packaging continued to carry the lower values. According to the complaint, “Plaintiff is informed and believes…
A Pennsylvania resident has sued Safeway, Inc. on behalf of a putative nationwide class of consumers who placed online orders for the home delivery of groceries and were allegedly charged about 10 percent more for each item in addition to a delivery fee. Rodman v. Safeway, Inc., No. 11-03003 (N.D. Cal., filed June 17, 2011). According to the complaint, Safeway assures consumers that they will pay the same prices for home-delivered goods that they would pay in the store. An “FAQ” section of Safeway’s website allegedly states “You will be charged the prices charged in the store on the day your order is picked and delivered.” Believing that the prices charged for his initial online order were high, the plaintiff apparently compared the prices for his second order with in-store prices and found that prices for 10 of 14 items included the “secret” add-on cost. Alleging breach of contract, violations…
Alleging that tissue samples from Virtue Calves veal sold for slaughter since 1995 have contained illegal drug residues, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has sued the producer and its owners in a California federal court seeking an order to stop the defendants from selling food containing an unsafe new animal drug, deemed adulterated under federal law. United States v. Virtue, No. 11-902 (E.D. Cal., filed June 22, 2011). According to the complaint, FSIS identified in defendants’ veal calves desfuroylceftiofur, gentamicin, neomycin, penicillin, tetracycline, sulfadiazine, and sulfamethoxazole. While the latter two drugs have never been approved for use on any animals, the remaining drugs have no legal tolerances approved for use in calves, according to FSIS. The agency contends, “Defendants have a long history of illegal drug residues in the edible tissues of the veal calves they sell for use as human food.” The defendants were…
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has released a June 23, 2011, report titled Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies that recommends “evidence-based strategies… to promote healthy weights in children from birth to age 5.” According to IOM, “almost 10 percent of infants and toddlers carry excess weight for their length, and slightly more than 20 percent of children between the ages of two and five already are overweight or obese.” IOM urges health care professionals to measure weight and length or height at every routine pediatric visit “in a standardized way, using the most current growth charts from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” as well as determine which patients are at the highest risk of obesity based on their rate of weight gain, parents’ weight status and whether their “growth measurements [are] at or above the 85th percentile curves.” IOM also advises parents and caretakers…
Scholars with the Center for Progressive Reform have written a letter to Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator Cass Sunstein asking that OIRA conclude its review of the proposed listing of bisphenol A (BPA) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Stating that the review has been “delayed far longer than Executive Order guidelines allow,” the June 20, 2011, letter was apparently prompted by an earlier U.S. Chamber of Commerce letter that urged OIRA to suspend the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) consideration and initiation of all TSCA listings. The center scholars note that the listing, which includes “chemicals of concern,” informs the public about EPA’s current thinking about these chemicals and could lead to a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would invite public comment. According to the letter, the Chamber pays “lip service” to such transparency, but “its goal is to head off issuance of an NPRM.”…
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (IG) has issued a June 21, 2011, report criticizing the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) imported food recall guidance as “not adequate to ensure the safety of the nation’s food supply because it was not enforceable.” According to the audit, which covered the period from July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2008, “FDA oversaw 40 Class I recalls of imported food products contaminated with pathogens and other harmful substances that can cause serious illnesses.” After reviewing 17 of those recalls, the IG concluded that firms (i) “did not promptly initiate recalls,” (ii) did not submit viable recall strategies, (iii) “did not issue accurate and complete recall communications to their consignees,”, and (iv) “did not submit timely and complete recall status reports.” The report also faults FDA for the inconsistent application of its own monitoring procedures, including the…
A bipartisan group of senators has introduced a bill (S. 1211) aimed at phasing out routine use of antibiotics in food-producing animals. Spearheaded by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) is identical to a House bill (H.R. 965) introduced earlier this year by U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), who has championed such legislation since 2007. PAMTA “addresses the rampant overuse of antibiotics in agriculture that creates drug-resistant bacteria, an increasing threat to human beings,” Feinstein noted in a press release. The legislation would also (i) “require new applications for animal antibiotics to demonstrate (that) the use of the antibiotic will not endanger public health” and (ii) “not restrict the use of antibiotics to treat sick livestock or to treat pets.” The bill’s provisions would limit agricultural use of seven types of antibiotics identified by the Food and Drug Administration as “critically important…
Alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition, Vienna Beef Ltd. has sued a descendant of one of its founders and the competing hot dog company he established in 1986. Vienna Beef Ltd. v. Red Hot Chicago, Inc., No. 11-03825 (N.D. Ill., filed June 6, 2011). When Scott Ladany, whose grandfather started Vienna Beef, left that company in 1983, he purportedly signed a severance agreement promising not to share Vienna’s recipes and acknowledging their status as trade secrets. According to the complaint, Ladany made “few inroads into Vienna’s dominance in the marketplace” for the next 25 years and then launched a marketing campaign on behalf of Red Hot, referring to the family history of making “Chicago’s finest hot dogs for 118 years.” He also allegedly referred to “a tradition that’s been handed down through four generations of our family.” The plaintiff contends, “The only way that he can claim that he has…
According to a news source, Dole Food Co. has tentatively agreed to settle the pesticide exposure claims of more than 5,000 former banana plantation workers in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Honduras. They are represented by Provost Umphrey, whose lawyers apparently ensured that the workers had actually been employed on the plantations and experienced personal injuries from exposure to dibromochloropropane. Similar claims filed by other trial lawyers and involving hundreds of other plaintiffs have been dismissed due to alleged legal wrongdoing, including falsified medical records, client coaching and the intimidation of Dole investigators. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals determined in March 2011 that a $97 million judgment reached in a Nicaraguan court against Dole and several other companies could not be recognized under Florida law. The terms of the preliminary settlement have not reportedly been disclosed. See The National Law Journal, June 14, 2011.
