The Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) has agreed, in part, with the European Commission’s challenge to requirements imposed by the Dutch government on contractors providing organic and fair trade products in its automatic coffee machines. EC v. Kingdom of the Netherlands, No. C-368/10 (E.C.J., decided May 10, 2012). According to the Court, government requirements for the award of contracts may be based on environmental or social criteria, but the criteria must be clear and the government must allow proof “that a product satisfies those criteria by all appropriate means.” The Court also held that “all the conditions and detailed rules of the award procedure must be drawn up in a clear, precise and unequivocal manner in the notice or contract documents.” To the extent that the Dutch requirements fell short of these standards, the Court found that the government failed to fulfill its obligations under the award of…
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The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that Starbucks Corp. did not violate federal labor law by adopting a dress code which limits the number of pro-union buttons its employees can wear on their uniforms. NLRB v. Starbucks Corp., Nos. 10-3511, 10-3783 (2d Cir., decided May 10, 2012). The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) had ruled that multiple pro-union buttons, at one-inch in diameter, “did not seriously harm Starbucks’s legitimate interest in employee image because ‘the Company not only countenanced but encouraged employees to wear multiple buttons as part of that image.’ These other buttons, the Board found, were not immediately recognizable by customers as company-sponsored, and the pro-union pins at issue were ‘no more conspicuous than the panoply of other buttons employees displayed.’” Reversing this part of NLRB’s determination, the appeals court said that it had gone too far. “Starbucks is clearly entitled to oblige its employees to wear…
A recent study has purportedly found that “neither caffeinated nor decaffeinated coffee was associated with an increased risk of total chronic disease, CVD [cardiovascular disease], or cancer,” according to a concurrent editorial published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Anna Floegel, “Coffee Consumption and Risk of Chronic Disease in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Germany Study,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, April 2012. Researchers analyzed data from medical followups and food frequency questionnaires gathered from 42,659 participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)- Germany, reporting the effects of coffee on overall health. The results not only failed to reveal a link between coffee and chronic disease, but suggested that the beverage may be associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. “The association between coffee consumption and risk of chronic disease is of considerable relevance because coffee is consumed worldwide and any…
Starbucks Corp. has filed its response in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a dispute over tip sharing, asking the court to affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment in its favor. Lawrence v. Starbucks Corp., No. 11-3199 (2d Cir., brief filed February 22, 2012). Additional information about related litigation involving Starbucks baristas and shift supervisors appears in Issue 256 of this Update. The company asserts that the district court correctly held that (i) New York labor law does not grant plaintiff assistant store managers the right to participate in a tip pool, and Starbucks did not “demand,” “accept,” or “retain” their tips; (ii) Starbucks’ policy of allowing only baristas and shift supervisors to share tips is consistent with state law; and (iii) assistant store managers exercise control over their subordinates’ employment status and are thus “agents” prohibited from sharing tips under state law.
According to Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to investigate the safety and legality of AeroShot®, which allows consumers to inhale a powder delivering 100 mg of caffeine to the body. Created by a Harvard professor and a company led by Harvard graduate Tom Hadfield, the product was apparently launched in January 2012 in New York and Boston markets. Its sale is not limited by any age restrictions nor has the product been reviewed by any agency. Still, Hadfield has reportedly indicated that the FDA review “will conclude that AeroShot is a safe, effective product that complies with FDA regulations.” Schumer called for the FDA review in a December 2011 letter raising concerns about the use of caffeine by children and adolescents. He also noted that a company marketing video “flashes through a variety of settings, including a dance party, a club scene, and…
A New Mexico resident has filed a putative statewide class action in federal court claiming that a company which makes one-cup coffee cartridges for Keurig® single-serve coffee machines falsely labels and markets its cartridges as fresh coffee when they are actually filled with instant coffee. Bracewell v. Sturm Foods, Inc., No. 11-01024 (D.N.M., filed November 18, 2011). Alleging violations of New Mexico and Illinois consumer fraud laws and unjust enrichment, the plaintiff seeks statutory damages, injunctive relief, attorney’s fees, and costs.
After Kona coffee growers called for Safeway, Inc. to comply with Hawaiian regulations on labeling Kona coffee, a California resident filed a putative class action against the company in federal court, alleging that its Safeway Select™ “Kona Blend” coffee contains “very little Kona coffee bean content.” Thurston v. Safeway, Inc., No. 11-04285 (N.D. Cal., filed August 30, 2011). Seeking to certify nationwide or statewide classes, the plaintiff calls the company’s labeling false and misleading and contends that she “did not receive the ‘Kona Blend’ she bargained for when she purchased Safeway’s Kona Blend Coffee, and has lost money as a result in the form of paying a premium for Kona Blend coffee” instead of paying less for a non-Kona or low-Kona coffee alternative. The plaintiff alleges common law fraud, violations of various consumer fraud statutes and restitution based on quasi contract or unjust enrichment. She requests restitution, compensatory and punitive…
The Metzger Law Group has filed a lawsuit under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (Prop. 65) on behalf of the Council for Education and Research on Toxics (CERT), seeking an order to require coffee makers and retailers to warn consumers that coffee contains acrylamide, a chemical known to the state to cause cancer. CERT v. Brad Berry Co., Ltd., No. BC461182 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty., filed May 9, 2011). The defendants include manufacturing companies, coffee shops and major food retailers. Raphael Metzger and CERT have filed a number of Prop. 65 lawsuits, including claims against fast-food restaurants, for failing to warn consumers about the acrylamide in fried and baked potatoes. Acrylamide, formed when certain foods are roasted, baked or exposed to high-temperature cooking processes other than boiling or steaming, has been listed as a carcinogenic chemical in California since 1990, but was not discovered in…
A federal court in Massachusetts has certified a class of Starbucks’ employees alleging that the company’s policy of requiring tip-sharing by baristas and their supervisors violates state law; the court also granted the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment on that issue. Matamoros v. Starbucks Corp., No. 08-10772 (D. Mass., decided March 18, 2011). So ruling, the court rejected the defendant’s argument that “intractable intra-class conflict” precludes certification. According to the court, “an interest by certain putative class members in maintaining the allegedly unlawful policy is not a reason to deny class certification. Indeed, were the Court to hold otherwise, an employer could readily insulate itself from class liability simply by establishing a communal ‘tip pool’ for both managerial and non-managerial employees. Such an ‘end run’ clearly contravenes the purpose of the Tips law.”
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a district court’s dismissal of claims filed by a 76-year-old woman who alleged that she was seriously burned when trying to remove the lid from a cup of tea she purchased at Starbucks. Moltner v. Starbucks Coffee Co., No. 09-4943 (2d Cir., decided November 3, 2010). The court issued a non-precedential summary order to affirm the grant of defendant’s summary judgment motion. According to the court, the district court correctly excluded the testimony of plaintiff’s experts because they were unreliable under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 standards. In this regard, the court stated, “[w]ithout the testimony of her expert witnesses, Moltner’s claims fail because there is no way for a reasonable juror to determine, with respect to her defective design claim, whether the risks posed by the product’s design outweighed its utility, or, with respect to her negligence claim, whether Starbucks failed to…
