Our client, an established Los Angeles food company, was introducing a new beverage product to the marketplace. Hundreds of thousands of dollars had been spent on promotions, slotting, packaging, perishable raw materials and commitments to retailers such as Albertson’s, Ralphs and Safeway. Three weeks before the scheduled launch, the filling machine supplier in Florida gave notice to our client that the equipment that had been ordered to fill bottles with the beverage would not be built until at least 30 days after the scheduled product launch. The Food Lawyers were called to see if anything could be done to get the equipment delivered on time and avoid the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars of promotional and slotting fee investments as well as damage to our client’s reputation.
The Food Lawyers® contacted the Florida equipment supplier who e-mailed us a letter from its president saying its employees were working double shifts to try and finish building the equipment and it was just impossible to go any faster because they physically couldn’t work more than 16 hours per day. We hired a private investigator in Florida to shoot video of the supplier’s parking lot through a telephoto lens from a nearby hilltop. The video showed the supplier’s employees arriving at work at about 8:15 AM and by 5:30 PM, the parking lot was empty. We had been lied to about the company working double shifts. We FEDEXed the Florida equipment supplier a copy of its President’s letter to us marked “Trial Exhibit A” and a copy of the video marked “Trial Exhibit B.” We told them they were liars and a jury would not look kindly on their deceit when we sued them for over a million dollars of damages and lost profits. We told them we’d continue shooting video of their parking lot – – this time in plain view of their managers and employees. They started working double shifts.
The filling machine was delivered to our client per the original schedule. Our client was able to keep its commitments to its retailer customers and avoid the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars of marketing investment and lost profits.
