A diabetic man has reportedly filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeking at least $4,000 in mental anguish damages from a Studio City sushi restaurant that requires those patrons paying an all-you-can-eat price to eat all of the food served and not just the fish. Martin v. A Ca-Shi Sushi, No. __ (Cal. Super. Ct.). David Martin alleges that restaurant owner Jay Oh is discriminating against diabetics by requiring them to eat the rice along with the sashimi, which Martin picked out and consumed, leaving the rice behind. According to a news source, Oh offered to prepare two orders of sashimi alone for Martin at a cost of $3 less than the all-you-can-eat sushi deal, but Martin refused. Instead, he filed a lawsuit and said he would be willing to settle for $6,000. Oh is reportedly going to fight the litigation even if his legal costs exceed…
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A California resident has filed a putative class action against Taco Bell Corp., alleging that the company violates consumer protection laws by mislabeling some of its beef products as containing seasoned beef “when in fact a substantial amount of the filling contains substances other than beef.” Obney v. Taco Bell Corp., No. 11-00101 (C.D. Cal., filed January 19, 2011). Seeking to certify a nationwide class of consumers and claiming that damages exceed $5 million, the plaintiff alleges violations of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act and unlawful business acts and practices, including misbranded food in violation of federal law. She also asks for declaratory and injunctive relief, a corrective advertising campaign, attorney’s fees, and costs. According to plaintiff’s counsel, testing has shown that “the taco meat filling is about 35 percent meat.” The complaint asserts that the company’s use of the term “seasoned beef” in the labeling and advertising of its beef…
This article focuses on the Los Angeles City Council’s unanimous decision last month to permanently extend a moratorium on new stand alone fast-food restaurants in South Los Angeles, where the city Department of Health estimates that 30 percent of the residents are obese. Although the ban allows exceptions for “mom-and-pop” businesses and shopping center eateries, it ultimately seeks to prevent additions to the 1,000 preexisting fast-food joints “in the 30 or square miles of South Los Angeles covered by the regulations.” According to Times writer Jennifer Medina, these rules “are meant to encourage healthier neighborhood dining options,” such as “sit-down restaurants, produce-filled grocery stores and takeout meals that center on salad rather than fries.” But the move also represents the first time a city has prohibited new fast-food restaurants “as part of a public health effort,” raising questions about whether the approach will actually lower obesity, heart disease and diabetes…
A New Jersey appellate court has dismissed the second amended complaint in a putative class action filed by a man who claims that Denny’s meals contain excessive undisclosed levels of sodium in violation of the state’s Consumer Fraud Act. DeBenedetto v. Denny’s, Inc., No. A-4135-09T1 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div., decided January 11, 2011). The plaintiff was represented by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Additional information about the litigation appears in Issue 312 of this Update. The court agreed with the trial judge that the plaintiff’s complaint was, in essence, a product liability claim for failure to warn for which the state’s product liability law provided “a sole and exclusive remedy.” In the absence of proof of injury, the courts determined that the plaintiff failed to state a claim on which relief can be granted. The appellate court disagreed with the plaintiff that recent state supreme court…
Authored by the co-founders of the Zagat Survey, this New York Times op-ed examines a recent spate of class action lawsuits arguing that many prominent restaurateurs, including Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batali, “are routinely cheating their workers by confiscating waiters’ and busboys’ tips to share with managers and other ineligible employees.” Tim and Nina Zagat, however, question whether these culinary giants would continue to intentionally cheat employees while facing costly lawsuits and “draconian penalties” under the state’s new Wage Theft Protection Act. “The biggest worry for restaurateurs, though, is that one error—for example, just one ineligible employee found sharing in tips—could cost a restaurant its ‘tip credit,’ which permits restaurants to pay their waiters less than the full minimum wage because the state assumes that they get $2.60 an hour in tips,” write the Zagats. “If a restaurant’s tip credit is yanked, it has to repay that much for every…
Seeking to represent a class of California children younger than age 8 and their parents, the mother of a 6-year-old girl has reportedly filed a putative class action against McDonald’s Corp., alleging that it baits children by advertising its “unhealthy Happy Meals” with toys and thus “has helped create, and continues to exacerbate, a super-sized health crisis in California.” Parham v. McDonald’s Corp., No. __ (Cal. Super. Ct., San Francisco Cty., filed December 15, 2010). Counsel for the plaintiff includes Stephen Gardner with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), which announced several months ago that it would be filing such a lawsuit. According to the complaint, “Most Happy Meals are too high in calories, saturated fat, and sodium to be healthful for very young children,” and the company “is engaged in a highly sophisticated scheme to use the bait of toys to exploit children’s developmental immaturity and…
A federal court in New York has entered an order approving the pre-trial discovery and motions scheduling order agreed to by the individual plaintiffs remaining in the litigation alleging that fast-food marketing caused adverse health effects related to obesity. Pelman v. McDonald’s Corp., No. 02-7821 (S.D.N.Y., order filed December 15, 2010). Under the terms of the agreement, fact discovery will close November 30, 2011; expert discovery will close April 30, 2012; and briefing on motions for summary judgment will end August 30, 2012. The court denied the plaintiff’s motion for class certification in October; additional details about the ruling appear in Issue 370 of this Update.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has overruled Mayor Gavin Newsom’s (D) veto of a bill prohibiting restaurants from offering toy giveaways in children’s meals deemed too high in calories, salt or fat. Under the law, which takes effect in December 2011, restaurants can only provide toys with meals containing fewer than 600 calories and 640 milligrams of sodium, and if fat makes up less than 35 percent of the total calories. In vetoing the measure, Newsom called the legislation an “intrusive and ineffective approach” to combat the problem and “unprecedented governmental intrusion into parental responsibilities and private choices.” But Supervisor Eric Mar (D) told a news source after the November 23, 2010, veto override that parents and health advocates support the measure to help curb childhood obesity. “From the Institutes of Medicine to the World Health Organization, we know that reducing the consumption of junk food by kids could spare…
Two California businessmen have reportedly filed a complaint in small claims court against a Marin County restaurateur, alleging that they were sprayed with hot garlic butter from an exploding snail. Chadwick St.-O’Harra, a former law student, and Steve Righetti were apparently celebrating Righetti’s birthday at a seafood restaurant, when the escargot purportedly exploded, dousing their faces and polo shirts. The men reportedly claim that the incident caused both “humiliation” and “a sense of genuine outrage” and that the restaurateur allegedly responded with “indifference” and “friggin’ rudeness.” The two were dining on a filet-and-lobster combo and a seafood medley and did not reportedly seek immediate medical treatment, choosing instead to finish their meals. According to the restaurant owner, the incident never happened and escargot does not explode. Still, some in the industry have characterized “escargot explosion” as a “rare but periodic phenomenon” that can be attributed to air bubbles trapped inside…
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (D) has reportedly vetoed an ordinance that would have prohibited restaurants from offering toy giveaways in children’s meals deemed too high in calories, salt or fat. Approved in an 8-to-3 vote on November 2, 2010, by the city’s Board of Supervisors, the ordinance has the minimum amount of support needed to override the veto, an action which apparently has not yet been scheduled. The ordinance was discussed in Issue 371 of this Update. Announcing the veto on November 12, Newsom called the legislation an “intrusive and ineffective approach” to combat childhood obesity. “Parents, not politicians, should decide what their children eat, especially when it comes to spending their own money,” he said in a statement. “Despite its good intentions, I cannot support this unwise and unprecedented government intrusion into parental responsibilities and private choices.” According to the California Restaurant Association, the legislation may face a…
