Perkins Coie is pleased to announce the launch of our seventh annual Food & Consumer Packaged Goods Litigation Year in Review. Accompanying the 2022 report are infographics that highlight key litigation outcomes, filing data, and industry trends. As always, the report offers a summary of the past year’s key litigation outcomes, regulatory developments, and
Food & Consumer Packaged Goods Litigation Year in Review 2021
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
California Regulators Publish New Amendments to Proposed Rules Limiting Use of Short-Form Proposition 65 Warnings
On December 13, 2021, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) published a notice of modified text to its proposed short-form Proposition 65 warning regulations.
As Perkins Coie previously detailed, OEHHA proposed amendments to its Proposition 65 warning regulations earlier this year that sought to dramatically restrict businesses’ use of short-form warnings (the
Food & Consumer Packaged Goods Litigation Year in Review 2020
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
PC Food Litigation Index: Q3 2020
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and limitations on court operations, food litigation filings continue to exceed numbers seen in prior years. As our Food Litigation colleagues wrote in Law360 (sub. req.), food litigation filings are anticipated to surpass 2019’s record numbers by nearly 20%, even though general commercial litigation filings across all industries have decreased significantly.
Continue Reading PC Food Litigation Index: Q3 2020
Proposition 65 Settlements: Lessons from 2018 Data
California’s Attorney General (AG) releases annual summaries of Proposition 65 settlements. This settlement data provides important insight into Proposition 65 litigation trends. Here are some of the most important takeaways from the 2018 data.
First, the average settlement amount was $42,424.52. According to the state AG’s report, there were 829 settlements in calendar year 2018. Many of these settlements also entailed injunctive relief, such as the addition of new labeling or reformulation of the products.
Continue Reading Proposition 65 Settlements: Lessons from 2018 Data
An Introduction to California’s Proposition 65: What is Proposition 65?
Welcome to the first in a multipart series of posts regarding California’s Proposition 65 (Prop. 65). This piece introduces readers to the law and its requirements. Future posts will dive deeper into analysis and trends regarding Prop. 65 litigation.
Continue Reading An Introduction to California’s Proposition 65: What is Proposition 65?
PC Food Litigation Index: Q1 2020
With 61 new filings in the first three months of 2020, 2020 is on-track with 2019 to be a big year in food and beverage litigation. About a third of new cases allege defendants misleadingly claim their product contains vanilla, while the remainder of cases are an even mix between cases alleging misleading health misrepresentations, natural claims, false-fact, and Proposition 65.
Vanilla. We wrote about the uptick in “vanilla” cases in our 2019 Food Litigation Year in Review, and the early numbers from 2020 confirm this remains a popular area for plaintiffs. There were 21 new “vanilla” cases filed in 2020 out of 61 total cases. All but one of these cases was filed in New York federal courts by the same group of plaintiffs’ counsel—Sheehan & Associates and Reese LLP. The complaints allege that “vanilla” claims on a wide variety of products (from milk to herbal tea) are false because the products derive their vanilla flavor in part from vanilla flavoring, rather than vanilla beans or vanilla extract. Vanilla flavoring, plaintiffs allege, contains non-vanilla flavors that reasonable consumer do not expect in products labeled vanilla.
Continue Reading PC Food Litigation Index: Q1 2020
Food Litigation Year in Review 2019
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
Industry Insights: Proposition 65 Labeling Responsibilities Finalized for Intermediary Parties and Retail Sellers
California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued finalized amendments on January 14, 2020, to its regulations that will become effective on April 1, 2020. Per OEHHA in its Final Statement of Reasons, the amendments “clarify how intermediate parties in the chain of distribution can satisfy their obligation to provide a warning” under Proposition