In some cases class action plaintiffs are making claims based on an allegedly incorrect statement on a label. Does TTB approval of a label protect a producer against claims based on the content of the label?

TJC: There is a good argument to be made that TTB approval of a label “preempts” a plaintiff’s state law claim that statements on the label are unlawful. Unfortunately, this is an untested argument. No court has yet ruled on a spirit producer’s argument that TTB approval of a label precludes a claim by a consumer that the label is unlawful. There is some concern that this argument will be rejected because the consumer’s claim is not based on the Federal Alcohol Administration Act but rather on state consumer fraud statutes. However, there are some good authorities in analogous situations involving different products and federal regulatory approval of labels that can be used to support this argument in the litigation against spirits producers.