Category: U.S. Circuit Courts
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Brewer Challenges State Ban on Sale of Product with “Gonzo-Inspired Label”
Flying Dog Brewery has filed a lawsuit under the First Amendment, alleging that the Michigan Liquor Control Commission and its individual members violated its free speech rights by prohibiting the company from selling Raging Bitch Twentieth Anniversary Belgian-Style India Pale Ale. Flying Dog Brewery, LLP v. Mich. Liquor Control Comm’n, No. __ (W.D. Mich., filed March…
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SPAM® Maker Sues Prem Maker for Trademark and Trade Dress Infringement
Hormel Foods, LLC has filed a complaint in a Minnesota federal court against a company that also makes a canned meat product, alleging that the company is infringing Hormel’s SPAM® trademark, which consists of yellow lettering on a blue background. Hormel Foods, LLC v. Zwanenberg Food Group (USA), Inc., No. __ (D. Minn., filed March…
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Farmers and Seed Companies Want Monsanto GE Seed Patents Declared Invalid
A coalition of more than 50 trade organizations, seed businesses, farms, and farmers has filed a lawsuit in a federal court in New York, to stop Monsanto Co. from enforcing its genetically engineered (GE) seed patents against farmers whose fields become contaminated with the GE seeds. Organic Seed Growers & Trade Ass’n v. Monsanto Co., No.…
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Court Pares Soup Labeling Claims Litigation
A federal court in New Jersey has granted in part the motion to dismiss filed by the Campbell Soup Co. in litigation alleging that consumers were misled by the company’s lower-sodium labels, believing they were a healthier alternative to regular soups, which allegedly contain about the same levels of sodium as the more expensive low-sodium…
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YoPlus Class Certification Ruling Remanded to District Court
Finding that the class definition approved by the district court was inconsistent with its analysis of the class certification requirements, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has returned litigation over the purportedly misleading digestive health claims for YoPlus yogurt to a district court in Florida. Fitzpatrick v. General Mills, Inc., No. 10-11064 (11th Cir., decided…
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Eleventh Circuit Refuses to Recognize Nicaraguan Court Judgment for Banana Workers
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a district court ruling finding that a $97 million judgment entered by a Nicaraguan court to compensate 150 Nicaraguan agricultural workers for injuries allegedly caused by workplace exposure to a pesticide is unenforceable under Florida law. Osorio v. Dow Chem. Co., No. 10-11143 (11th Cir., decided March…
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Class Action Challenging “All Natural” Designation for Ice Cream Transferred
Relying on the first-to-file rule, a federal court in New Jersey has transferred a putative class action alleging false advertising for a Breyers ice cream product to a federal court in California that is considering similar litigation. Catanese v. Unilever d/b/a/ Breyers, No. 10-5755 (D.N.J., decided March 28, 2011). The plaintiffs in a number of cases…
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Cereal Maker Sues Canadian Packaging Company for Defective Liners
Kellogg Co. has filed a lawsuit in a Michigan federal court against the Canadian packaging company that supplied allegedly defective liners with “offensive characteristics” (taste and odor) that purportedly caused nausea and diarrhea in some Kellogg cereal consumers and forced a “costly nationwide recall” of four company products. Kellogg Co. v. FPC Flexible Packaging Corp.,…