Our weekly roundup aims to keep our readers up to date on recent notable rulings in the food & consumer packaged goods space.

  • Alexis Slaten v. Christian Dior, Inc., No. 23-cv-00409-JSC (N.D. Cal. – May 12, 2023): The Northern District of California granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss a complaint alleging the defendant misleadingly advertised the sun protection benefits of several of its cosmetic products, specifically that the potential sun protection would last 24 hours without the need to reapply the product. The court found plaintiff adequately alleged that the defendant’s statements on their products were plausibly misleading to reasonable consumers. The court dismissed the plaintiff’s claims based on the products they didn’t purchase. Opinion linked here.
  • Jeremy Guzman v. Walmart, Inc., No. 22-cv-03465 (N.D. Ill. – May 15, 2023): The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted a motion to dismiss a complaint alleging the statement “Mayo with Olive Oil” on the defendants reduced-fat mayonnaise misleads consumers as to the amount of olive oil contained in the product. The court held that the defendant’s product labeling would not be deceptive to a reasonable consumer as it states it contains olive oil and doesn’t make any claim as to the amount of olive oil the product contains. The court also noted a pattern of similar cases filed by the plaintiff’s counsel regarding consumer labeling that haven’t survived and directed the plaintiff’s counsel to show cause as to awarding attorneys’ fees in this case. Opinion linked here.
Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Photo of David T. Biderman David T. Biderman

David Biderman, a partner in Perkins Coie’s San Francisco and Los Angeles offices, focuses his practice on mass tort litigation and consumer class actions. He heads the firm’s Mass Tort and Consumer Litigation group. He has represented a wide variety of companies in…

David Biderman, a partner in Perkins Coie’s San Francisco and Los Angeles offices, focuses his practice on mass tort litigation and consumer class actions. He heads the firm’s Mass Tort and Consumer Litigation group. He has represented a wide variety of companies in state and federal courts in California for 30 years.

On consumer class actions, David represents packaged food companies, coffee companies, dairy companies, footwear companies and others whose nutritional or health claims have been challenged. He also has represented search engines and other online companies. He has a record of favorable results for clients. He successfully tried a major consumer fraud class action on behalf of one of the world’s major search engines in a case involving online gambling advertisements. For that same client, he negotiated a favorable settlement of a class action challenging its online advertising pricing. He represented a major coffee retailer in defeating a class action on standing grounds. He also has litigated pre-emption defenses arising out of food labeling and obtained a dismissal for a client whose nutritional statements were challenged.

For fifteen years, David managed the firm’s full-service product liability team responsible for defending over 1,000 toxic tort cases pending in Los Angeles and Northern California state courts. These cases entailed ongoing trial activity at various levels for several trials set each month. The highly experienced and well-coordinated team has handled thousands of asbestos toxic tort cases for a variety of clients, including FORTUNE 500 companies from such industries as consumer products, aerospace manufacturing, household goods, dry cleaning and industries that generate electromagnetic fields, such as electric utilities and operators of wireless communications systems.

Read more about David T. BidermanDavid's Linkedin Profile
Show more Show less
Photo of Tommy Tobin Tommy Tobin

Thomas Tobin’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation and class action matters involving statutory, constitutional, and regulatory issues in a range of industries, including food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, and cannabis. In the food and beverage sector, Tommy has experience defending false…

Thomas Tobin’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation and class action matters involving statutory, constitutional, and regulatory issues in a range of industries, including food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, and cannabis. In the food and beverage sector, Tommy has experience defending false advertising claims and consumer protection claims for well-known international corporations.

Read more about Tommy Tobin
Show more Show less