Category: U.S. Circuit Courts
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Third Circuit Remands Pet Food MDL Settlement
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed, for the most part, with the resolution of multidistrict litigation claims against pet food manufacturers involving the melamine contamination and recall of their products in 2007. In re: Pet Food Prods. Liab. Litig., Nos. 08-4741 & 08-4779 (3d Cir., decided December 16, 2010). Further details about the settlement…
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Court Tosses Trans Fat Lawsuit Against Hostess, Claims Preempted
In a ruling left unchallenged when the appeal period expired, a federal court in California has determined that a plaintiff bringing state law claims about alleged misleading food labels involving trans fat were preempted by federal law and that he lacked standing as a consumer to bring a claim under the Lanham Act, which protects…
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Candy Makers Spar over Packaging
Hershey Company has reportedly sued Mars for trademark infringement in a Pennsylvania federal court, alleging that colors used in the packaging for Mars’s Dove peanut-butter milk-chocolate Promises® candy is too similar to what Hershey uses for its Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups®. Mars apparently filed a preemptive suit just days earlier in a Virginia federal court,…
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Class Action Challenges Health Claims for Elderberry Juice
Two Missouri residents with arthritis and allergies have filed a putative class action on behalf of Missouri, Illinois and Kansas consumers who were allegedly deceived by false health-related claims made by a company that sells elderberry juice. Delling v. Wyldewood Cellars, Inc., No. 10-02287 (E.D. Mo., filed December 6, 2010). The complaint also names a…
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Humane Society Member Files Class Action Against Poultry Producer
Alleging that Perdue Farms Inc. misleads consumers by labeling its chicken products as “Humanely Raised,” a member of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has reportedly filed a putative class action against the company in a New Jersey court. The suit apparently claims that the company’s chickens are processed under National Chicken Council…
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Court Orders Dole to Pay Documentary Filmmakers’ Legal Fees
A California court has reportedly ordered Dole Food Co. to pay about $200,000 in legal fees and costs to Swedish filmmakers whom the company sued for defamation, alleging that their documentary about the lawyer who sued Dole on behalf of Nicaraguan banana plantation workers exposed to the pesticide DBCP implied that the company caused their…
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Federal Court Urges Parties to Negotiate in USDA Gender Discrimination Case
According to a news source, a district court in the District of Columbia has denied a request seeking an order that the Justice Department submit a proposal for settling claims of loan program discrimination filed by female farmers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Instead, the court apparently urged the lawyers representing the litigants to…