4 Key Takeaways | Trade Secret Update 2024 Legal Developments and Trends
Judge Edward R. Korman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York recently granted Mondelez Global’s motion to dismiss a putative class action challenging the advertising for its signature Oreo cookies....more
When you buy and eat smoked nuts and cheeses, do you have images of smoke from a wood fire wafting up from smokers as you savor those snacks? Have you ever thought about how your nuts and cheeses were smoked? Many of those...more
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has proposed a rule that would codify the legalization of hemp cultivation and related definitions passed in the 2018 Farm Bill into the Controlled Substances Act. The amendments...more
Earlier this summer, the District Court of Vermont dismissed a false advertising lawsuit alleging that Ben & Jerry’s claims that it sources dairy products from “happy cows” on “Caring Dairy” farms were materially misleading....more
Last week, in Conte’s Pasta Co. v. Republic Franklin Insurance Co., a New Jersey federal court ruled that Republic Franklin Insurance Co. was obligated to indemnify Conte’s Pasta for the costs incurred defending against a...more
On May 20, 2020, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a proposed class action against General Mills for its alleged failure to disclose the presence of a harmful chemical in its Cheerios cereal....more
In a multidistrict litigation accusing McCormick & Co. of deceptively underfilling the pepper it sells in grinders and tins, a D.C. federal judge preliminarily approved a $2.5 million class settlement last week. Consumers...more
We have previously written about decisions addressing food product labels, and the messages that these labels convey about the products’ ingredients. In Jessani v. Monini, the Second Circuit found that a product label for...more
LEGISLATION, REGULATIONS & STANDARDS - FDA Issues First Warning Letter for FSMA Foreign Supplier Program - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued the first warning letter enforcing the Food Safety...more
On July 10, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., issued a significant opinion examining when food manufacturers accused of improperly using “non-functional slack fill” may be subject to class action litigation. See In Re:...more
Is it deceptive to label food products with the mark of the American Heart Association (“AHA”) without disclosing that the AHA was paid for use of its certification mark? This was the question raised by a putative class...more
LEGISLATION, REGULATIONS & STANDARDS - FDA Commissioner Questions Milk Standards Enforcement - At a speaking engagement, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb reportedly expressed that the...more
Proposal Would Move Food Regulation to USDA - As part of a proposal to reorganize several federal agencies, the Trump administration has recommended that food-safety regulatory oversight be shifted to the U.S. Department...more
Court Denies Motion to Dismiss Class Action Involving Healthfulness of Extra Virgin Coconut Oil - Traction v. Viva Labs, Inc., No. 3:16-cv-02772 (S.D. Cal.): The Court issued an order denying Defendant’s motion to dismiss...more
A new putative consumer class action claiming damages in excess of $5,000,000 was filed earlier this month in the Northern District of California against Goya Foods, Inc. (“Goya”). The plaintiff, a purchaser of Goya octopus...more
In McMahon v. Bumble Bee Foods, LLC, No. 14-cv-03346 (N.D. Ill. 2015), the plaintiff claimed that Bumble Bee engaged in deceptive conduct when it sold various seafood products with labels that indicated they were an...more
The flurry of food mislabeling class actions filed in California federal courts has recently come to a halt under the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Comcast v. Beherend. Comcast requires that putative class action plaintiffs...more