The statements giving rise to the claims can arise from aspirational goals regarding the sustainability of the products, the ability to recycle the product packaging, and the treatment of animals or of the farming practices used in production. IStockCapitalizing on consumer interest in sustainable environmental practices and animal welfare, class actions challenging label claims and marketing materials continue to be filed. New Theories Emerge: Sustainability and Animal Treatment Ĭlaims regarding the presence, absence or source of vanilla continue to proliferate. Plaintiffs continue to file class action complaints against food and beverage companies because plaintiffs lawyers perceive that they have settlement value. Class actions arising from consumer products can have classes with hundreds of thousands, or perhaps millions, of putative class members. Accordingly, even settlements that offer very small monetary relief to each member of the class may be largely based on the number of class members. These settlements can also include significant attorneys’ fee awards. For example, a coffee maker recently paid $25 million, including $8.325 million in attorneys’ fees, to settle a false advertising case where plaintiffs alleged that its coffee pods were filled with instant coffee rather than the labeled premium ground coffee.
“sustainably farmed,” or “humanely raised”)ĭevelopments in Recently-Filed Food and Beverage Class Actions