The Basics: A class action is nothing more than an individual filing a lawsuit on behalf of thousands of people, all of whom have the same complaint against the defendant. For example: Assume a medical device manufacturer’s defective heart valve is implanted into hundreds of cardiac patients. An individual patient could try to file a suit seeking a replacement of the defective valve along with monetary damages. However, with the cost of attorneys, medical device expert witnesses and other trial preparation expenses, these lawsuits are too expensive for a single patient to bring on his/her own behalf. A class action brought on behalf of hundreds of patients, however, is a lawsuit that lawyers are willing to finance because if successful, their legal fees are paid by the defendant. A winning verdict often means millions of dollars for the plaintiff’s lawyers. So, here’s an opportunity to do a lot of real justice regarding important matters. However, with big money on the line, there’s an even bigger chance for unforeseen consequences to arise.
The Food Defendants: Most class actions filed against food companies allege a product is incorrectly labeled as “natural.” Here are a couple of notable examples currently in the courts: Coca-Cola is being sued because it’s Hansen Natural Sodas contain citric acid and ascorbic acid (an industrially synthesized preservative). Ocean Spray is being sued because many of its drinks are labeled as containing “No Artificial Colors or Flavors,” but allegedly contain synthetic malic and fumaric acids (a petroleum byproduct that mimics a fruity taste). The plaintiffs in food label class actions allege that because companies are not accurately disclosing the nature of their ingredients, consumers are being “tricked” into buying and paying too much for products that contain artificial ingredients. In the end, many food companies opt for a multi-million dollar settlement with much of the recovery going to the plaintiffs’ attorneys while each “aggrieved” consumer gets fifty cents to two dollars’ in refunds.
The Food Lawyers? Take-Aways: Most often, food company inhouse regulatory departments, even at behemoths like Coke, get these cases wrong because no one in their inhouse departments has ever defended a class action. Equally, smaller companies tend to follow the industry leader under the assumption that the behemoth “must know what they are doing.” The Food Lawyers has successfully defended food label class actions similar to the likes of the Coca-Cola and Ocean Spray cases. Just two weeks ago, we won a labeling class action filed against Trader Joe’s – – we sent the plaintiffs’ attorneys home without a dime and we’ll recover all of our court costs! More significantly, our firm has been reviewing labels before they go on the shelf for over 20 years. No label we have “signed off” on, has ever ended up in a class action. So, the choice for the food companies (even the big ones) is clear: Either have your labels reviewed by someone who actually defends class actions for a living or roll the dice with your inhouse regulatory department and see where you land. You can ask Coca-Cola and Ocean Spray how they feel about their decisions.