Category: Issue 465
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Putative Class Claims Monster Beverage Targets Youth and Miscategorizes Energy Drinks
A plaintiff who claims he began consuming Monster Beverage energy drinks as a teenager, because he was offered free beverages from a truck parked outside his high school, has filed a putative nationwide consumer-fraud class action against the company in a California federal court. Fisher v. Monster Beverage Corp., No. 12-02188 (C.D. Cal., filed December…
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Plaintiff Cannot Sue for “Fake” White Chocolate Products He Did Not Buy
A federal court in California has dismissed in part putative class claims filed by a man who alleges that Ghirardelli Chocolate Co. white chocolate products do not contain the requisite white chocolate ingredients to be labeled and promoted as such. Miller v. Ghirardelli Chocolate Co., No. 12-04936 (N.D. Cal, decided December 6, 2012). The court agreed…
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Court Directs Litigants to Take Yogurt Dispute to FDA
A federal court in Minnesota has dismissed without prejudice state law-based consumer-fraud claims filed against a company that makes Greek yogurt not by straining it, a process essential to the traditional production of this thickened dairy product, but by adding milk protein concentrate (MPC). Taradejna v. General Mills, Inc., No. 12-993 (D. Minn., decided December 10,…
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MDL Court Certifies Class of Purchasers After Full-Blown Daubert Analysis
A multidistrict litigation (MDL) court that is considering pretrial matters in 91 consolidated antitrust lawsuits alleging that major chocolate manufacturers conspired to implement price increases from 2002 through 2007, has granted the direct-purchaser plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. In re Chocolate Confectionery Antitrust Litig., MDL No. 1935 (M.D. Pa., order entered December 7, 2012). The court…
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Spurned Expert Asks SCOTUS for Non-Party Right to Appeal
David Egilman, whose expert testimony was deemed inadmissible in proceedings involving a consumer’s exposure to the butter-flavoring chemical diacetyl in microwave popcorn, has filed a petition for writ of certiorari (No. 12-697) in the U.S. Supreme Court. He asks, “Whether a nonparty to a district court proceeding has a right to appeal a decision that…
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New Vending Machine Rules Approved for Some Chicago Buildings
Chicago’s City Council has reportedly approved an ordinance that will impose new nutrition rules on most food and drinks sold from 350 vending machines in 94 city buildings, setting restrictions on fat, calories, sugar, and sodium. The new ordinance applies to vending machines in city-owned and -leased buildings and takes effect January 2013. In a…
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New Russian Regulation on U.S. Pork and Beef Imports
Russian health regulators have announced a new regulation that will require imported meat to undergo testing for and be certified free of ractopamine, a hormone that has reportedly been linked to health concerns. The additive allegedly promotes animal growth and leaner meat and is added to some animal feed in the United States. According to…
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FDA Renews Food Safety Agreement with Chinese Counterpart
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended for five years a 2007 food safety agreement with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine of China (AQSIQ) to “enhance cooperation between the U.S. and China on food and feed safety.” The agreement includes provisions enhancing FDA’s “ability to identify high-risk food products entering…