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

  • Kerstine Bryan v. Del Monte Foods, Inc., No. 4:23-cv-00865-MMC (N.D. Cal. – October 19, 2023): The Northern District of California dismissed a putative class action alleging that the labeling of defendant’s Mango Chunks and Peach Chunks fruit cups was false or misleading. Specifically, plaintiff alleged the phrase “fruit naturals” was misleading, as she understood the representation to mean the products contained only natural ingredients, when they actually contained multiple synthetic ingredients. The Court held that plaintiff had not plausibly alleged that the products’ front label, as clarified by the back label, would mislead a reasonable consumer into thinking that the products did not contain synthetic ingredients. The Court found that the front label’s statement, “fruit naturals” did not “make any affirmative promise about what proportion of the ingredients are natural,” and the Court concluded that such ambiguity could be resolved by reference to the back label, which clearly disclosed the inclusion of the alleged synthetic ingredients. Opinion linked here.
  • Mohamad Tlaib v. Chattem, Inc., No. 1:23-cv-00376 (N.D. Ill.– September 8, 2023): The Northern District of Illinois dismissed a complaint that alleged the marketing and labeling of defendant’s dry mouth lozenges were misleading because of the representations that the product would improve oral health by soothing dry mouth, moisturizing mouth tissue, and freshening breath. Plaintiff challenged the representations alleging that laboratory testing shows that the product has a low pH, which can damage tooth enamel and root dentin. The court held that plaintiff did not sufficiently allege that defendant engaged in a deceptive act or practice and did not identify a specific deceptive statement that a significant portion of targeted consumers would find false or misleading. The court held that plaintiff’s interpretation of the product’s label was unreasonable under the circumstances, and the label is not deceptive as a matter of law because plaintiff did not allege that the product did not actually soothe his dry mouth, moisturize his mouth tissue, or freshen his breath. The court additionally held that the product did not expressly represent or imply that it will have a certain pH level or improve general “oral health.” Opinion linked here.

If you are a food or CPG company contact interested in receiving our daily email update on filings and notable rulings, please reach out to Kellie Hale with your request to be added: khale@perkinscoie.com.

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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.

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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.

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