In a dispute over commercial liability insurance coverage, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a trial court erred in deciding, as a matter of law, that a recall of sausage breakfast sandwiches prompted by contamination with monosodium glutamate (MSG) was a covered incident. Hot Stuff Foods, LLC v. Houston Cas. Co., Nos. 14-1192, -1194 (8th Cir., decided November 17, 2014). When MSG is added to foods, it must be disclosed on the product label. Hot Stuff Foods makes sausage breakfast sandwiches with sausage that does not contain MSG and does not include it on package labels. The company also distributes sausage that contains MSG and learned in January 2011 that some of the MSG sausage was inadvertently used in the breakfast sandwiches. Because the product contained MSG not disclosed on the labels, it was misbranded under federal law. The company promptly reported the situation to Food and Drug…
Tag Archives South Dakota
According to news sources, the South Dakota Supreme Court has denied the defendants’ petition seeking review and dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Beef Products, Inc. alleging that the ABC network and news anchor Diane Sawyer, among others, defamed the company by their coverage of the company’s lean, finely textured beef, which has been dubbed “pink slime” by critics. Beef Prods., Inc. v. Am. Broadcasting Cos., Inc., No. 12-292 (Union Cty. Cir. Ct., S.D., supreme court order entered May 22, 2014). Without discussing the case merits, the court also apparently lifted a stay that had stopped the discovery process in April 2014. Additional details about the lawsuit appear in Issues 519 and 453 of this Update. The plaintiff seeks $1.2 billion in damages. See AP, May 23, 2014. Issue 524
A South Dakota court has determined that most of the claims filed by the makers of lean finely textured beef (LFTB) against ABC News, certain news correspondents, including Diane Sawyer, and former U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) employees may proceed. Beef Prods., Inc. v. Am. Broadcasting Cos., Inc., No. 12-292 (Union Cty. Cir. Ct., S.D., order entered March 28, 2014). Information about the lawsuit appears in Issue 453 of this Update. While the court found the plaintiffs’ claims for common law disparagement preempted by a state statute addressing the elements of a disparagement cause of action, available relief and statute of limitations, it limited its dismissal with prejudice to those alleged tortious statements expressly stating or implying that the product is not safe for human consumption. As to the defamation claims, the court found that the three plaintiffs were appropriate parties because the complaint sufficiently alleged that people who heard the…
After removing to federal court a defamation lawsuit brought by the company that makes lean finely textured beef (LFBT), ABC News has reportedly filed a motion to dismiss claiming that its news stories referring to the product as “pink slime” are protected speech under the First Amendment. Beef Products, Inc. v. Am. Broadcasting Cos., Inc., No. 12-04183 (D.S.D., filed October 24, 2012). Additional information about the lawsuit appears in Issue 453 of this Update. According to the news company’s motion, “Pink slime is exactly the sort of ‘loose, figurative, or hyperbolic language’ that courts recognize demands protection under the First Amendment.” ABC reportedly contends that the lawsuit challenges the rights of news organizations to “explore matters of obvious public interest—what is in the food we eat and how that food is labeled.” See Reuters, October 31, 2012.
Beef Products Inc. (BPI) has filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News, Diane Sawyer and two former U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) employees, among others, claiming that they “knowingly and intentionally published nearly 200 false and disparaging statements regarding the company and its product, lean finely textured beef (LFTB).” Beef Prods. Inc. v. ABC, Inc., No. ___ (Cir. Ct., Union Cty., S. Dak., filed September 13, 2012). The company is seeking $1.2 billion in damages. At one time, LFTB was used in some 70 percent of ground beef; it is made from fatty scraps remaining after cattle carcasses are cut into steaks and roasts. Bits of lean meat are heated and separated from the fat in a centrifuge, then treated with ammonium hydroxide gas to rid the product of E. coli or other pathogens. BPA claims that it sold more than 3.7 billion pounds of LFTB between 2003 and 2012 and…
