Category: U.S. Circuit Courts
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Advocacy Groups File Amicus Brief to Support Challenge to Utah “Ag-Gag” Law
Advocacy organizations including the Center for Food Safety and Food & Water Watch have filed an amicus brief to support an animal rights organization coalition’s challenge to a Utah law that criminalizes undercover investigations of meat and poultry processing facilities. Animal Legal Def. Fund v. Herbert, No. 13-0679 (D. Utah, brief filed December 17, 2013). Contending that…
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Monster Beverage’s Challenge to S.F. Attorney Investigation Dismissed
A federal court in California has dismissed, without prejudice, the action for declaratory and injunctive relief brought against the San Francisco city attorney, seeking to halt his investigation of Monster Beverage’s energy drinks and efforts to regulate their formulation, labeling and promotion. Monster Beverage Corp. v. Herrera, No. 13-0786 (C.D. Cal., decided December 16, 2013).…
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Seventh Circuit Says No Duty to Defend Four Loko® Maker
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that Phusion Projects’ commercial liability insurance carriers have no duty to defend the company in actions alleging that intoxication attributable to consumption of its Four Loko® alcoholic product caused death and personal injury. Netherlands Ins. Co. v. Phusion Projects, Inc., No. 12-1355 (7th Cir., decided December 16,…
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Court Agrees to Postpone Criminal Trial Against Peanut Co. Owner/Employees
A federal court in Georgia has called for the prosecutors and defendants in a criminal action arising from the 2009 nationwide Salmonella outbreak linked to the peanut products made by the Blakely, Georgia, Peanut Corp. of America to propose a scheduling order and trial dates between July 7, 2014, and August 2014. United States v. Parnell,…
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Ruby Tuesday to Pay $575,000 to Settle EEOC Age-Bias Suit
Some four years after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) accused several Ruby Tuesday, Inc. restaurants in Pennsylvania and Ohio of engaging in a pattern or practice of age discrimination against 40-year-old or older job applicants, Ruby Tuesday agreed to settle the claims, without admitting any liability. EEOC v. Ruby Tuesday, Inc., No. 09-1330…
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Court Further Trims “Healthy” and “Wholesome” Claims for Snacks
A federal court in California has dismissed a number of claims with prejudice in the second amended complaint filed on behalf of a putative class alleging that the promotion of various snack products made by Procter & Gamble Co. and Kellogg Co. is false and misleading. Samet v. Procter & Gamble Co., No. 12-1891 (N.D.…
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False ECJ Claims Against Amy’s Kitchen Narrowed
A federal court in Florida has dismissed putative class claims in a consumer-fraud lawsuit to the extent they involve allegedly false “evaporated cane juice” (ECJ) labeling on Amy’s Kitchen food products that the named plaintiff did not purchase, but has otherwise allowed the remaining claims to proceed. Reilly v. Amy’s Kitchen, Inc., No. 13-21525 (S.D. Fla.,…
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Court Approves Class Certification in Fraud Suit Against Olive Oil Co.
A federal court in New York has certified a consumer-fraud class action against Kangadis Food Inc., d/b/a The Gourmet Factory, alleging that the company falsely labels its products as “100% Pure Olive Oil” when they actually contain the industrially processed substance “olive-pomace oil,” “olive-residue oil” or “Pomace.” Ebin v. Kangadis Food Inc. d/b/a The Gourmet…