Perkins Coie is pleased to announce the launch of our sixth annual Food Litigation Year in Review. In recognition of the firm’s practice expansion, this year-in-review report has been broadened to the Food & Consumer Packaged Goods Litigation Year in Review 2021. Accompanying the 2021 report are infographics that highlight key litigation outcomes, filing

Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that its fifth annual Food Litigation Year in Review, in coordination with the expansion of the firm’s practice, has been broadened and renamed the Food & Consumer Packaged Goods Litigation Year in Review. In coordination with this rebranding, we have also launched an infographic report that highlights key litigation outcomes, filing data, and industry trends. Despite a tumultuous year, one thing stayed the same: plaintiffs’ class action attorneys continued to file plenty of lawsuits against manufacturers of consumer packaged goods (CPGs).
Continue Reading Food & Consumer Packaged Goods Litigation Year in Review 2020

Last week the Ninth Circuit concluded that a campaign for class certification brought by dog food purchasers was all bark and no bite.

In a memorandum disposition issued on December 9, 2020, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of class certification on predominance grounds, because of the varying nature of the labeling representations at issue, and because plaintiffs failed to present a viable damages model. Reitman v. Champion Petfoods USA, Inc., et al., No. 19-56467, 2020 WL 7238439 (9th Cir. Dec. 9, 2020). The panel also reaffirmed the principle that full refunds are not a recoverable form of damages for consumer goods that plaintiffs purchase and use—and thus receive some value from.
Continue Reading Recent Ruling: Ninth Circuit Rules that Dog Food Purchasers’ Class Certification Campaign Has No Bite

On December 10, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held its Class Action Symposium. The symposium is as timely as ever. Food, beverage, and consumer product class actions are rocketing, with projected filings up 24 percent over 2019. The Northern District of California sees a substantial subset of these filings, earning it the nickname “the Food Court.”
Continue Reading Industry Insights: Key Takeaways from Northern District of California’s Class Action Symposium

On March 3, 2020, CLE International held the second day of Food Law: Navigating the Intersection Between Regulation of Litigation.  Now in its fifth year, the conference convenes individuals from the plaintiffs’ bar, academia, industry, and large law firms.

Perkins Coie’s David T. Biderman presented alongside attorneys from the plaintiff and defense bar on the panel “The Reasonable Consumer: An Interactive Debate.”  Panelists discussed recent trends in reasonable consumer decisions from the Second and Ninth Circuits and how these developments may affect the reasonable consumer doctrine moving forward.Continue Reading Industry Insights: Day Two of the 5th Annual Food Law CLE Conference

Perkins Coie is pleased to present its fourth annual Food Litigation Year in Review 2019, offering a summary of the past year’s key litigation outcomes, regulatory developments, and filing data. Using metrics from our proprietary database, developed by our food litigation team in order to track and understand trends in this area, 2019’s Year in Review again reports an increase in class action litigation, with a record-breaking 173 new lawsuits filed. The upward filing trends in the class action landscape are mirrored in other industries and in the prosecution of related claims: putative class actions against the pet food and dietary supplement industries were on the rise in 2019, as were Proposition 65 warning notices.
Continue Reading Food Litigation Year in Review 2019

Organic Consumers Association v. R.C. Bigelow, Inc., No. 17CA8375 (D.C. Super. Ct.): Plaintiff asserts a cause of action for violation of the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act alleging that defendant deceptively labeled, marketed and sold its Bigelow’s Green Tea as “All Natural” and “Natural,” when in fact the product contains the synthetic

Miao v. Iovate Health Sciences U.S.A. Inc., No. 1:17-cv-09427 (S.D.N.Y.): Putative slack-fill class action asserting violations of New York’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and False Advertising provisions of the GBL, and raising a claim for common law fraud. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant’s containers of Herbal Zen Nutrition plant-based protein powder are 40% slack-filled.
Continue Reading New Filings – December 15, 2017