Category: U.S. Circuit Courts
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No Reconsideration for Expert Exclusion in DHA Omega-3 Fortified Milk Suits
A federal magistrate in Florida has denied the plaintiffs’ request in multidistrict litigation challenging marketing claims that DHA Omega-3-fortified milk supports brain health to reconsider an earlier order excluding the testimony of their expert. In re Horizon Organic Milk Plus DHA Omega-3 Mktg. & Sales Practice Litig., MDL No. 2324 (S.D. Fla., order entered June 17,…
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Peanut Corp. Owner Fails in Effort to Seal “Highly Prejudicial” Email
A federal court in Georgia presiding over the criminal case filed against the former owner of the Peanut Corp. of America, implicated in a nationwide Salmonella outbreak in 2009, has denied Stewart Parnell’s motion to seal an exhibit that the government intends to introduce as Rule 404(b) evidence— that evidence pertaining to crimes, wrongs or…
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Court Denies Black Farmers’ Intervention in Female & Hispanic Discrimination Suits
A federal court in the District of Columbia has denied the request of the Black Farmers & Agriculturalists Association, Inc. to intervene in lawsuits brought by female and Hispanic farmers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) alleging gender and race bias in the administration of farm loan and disaster benefit programs. Love v. Vilsack,…
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Olive Oil Purity Claims Target Company Owners
After Kangadis Food Inc. filed for bankruptcy claiming that putative class litigation challenging its alleged misleading olive oil representations has cost the company, which does business as The Gourmet Factory, more than $1.4 million in attorney’s fees and could cost an additional $750,000 if the claims go to trial, the named plaintiffs filed class claims…
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Vermont GE Labeling Law Challenged as Constitutionally Infirm
Four food, beverage and business trade organizations have filed a constitutionally based challenge to Vermont’s recently enacted law that would require food and beverage manufacturers to disclose on product labels that their products are “produced with genetic engineering” (GE), or “may be” or are “partially” so produced and to prohibit the use of terms such…
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Claims About Pesticides in “100% Natural” Teas to Proceed
A federal court in California has denied the motion to dismiss filed by The Hain Celestial Group in four consolidated putative class actions alleging that the company deceives consumers by labeling and promoting 10 of its Celestial Seasonings® teas as “100% Natural” when they contain chemical insecticides, fungicides and herbicides. Von Slomski v. The Hain…
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Quality Egg to Pay $6.8 Million Fine in Salmonella Outbreak
As anticipated, Quality Egg LLC and its former owners, Austin “Jack” DeCoster and his son Peter, have entered guilty pleas to charges of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. Additional information about the plea agreement appears in Issue 524 of this Update. They admitted that the company’s shell eggs, shipped to buyers in states throughout the…
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CSPI Seeks Action on Pathogen Petition
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has filed a complaint against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food Safety and Inspection Service, seeking a declaration that the agencies have unreasonably delayed taking action on its May 2011 petition requesting that certain strains of antibiotic-resistant (ABR) Salmonella in ground meat and poultry be…