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. 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).

Attorneys in Perkins Coie's Food Litigation practice have defended false labeling cases across a broad range of products and industries. As our practice area has expanded, we have continued to pay close attention to the litigation environment for emerging trends, important developments in case law, and related regulatory guidance across CPG product categories. We use this real-time tracking to help advise clients on risk and develop effective defense strategies for companies facing class litigation.

Even with the interruption in civil litigation prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, more new class action lawsuits were filed against the food and beverage industry—220 cases—than in any other year of the last decade. And, as plaintiffs' lawyers have set their sights on other products in the CPG space, Perkins Coie has begun to systematically track these cases as well. Supplements, pet foods, personal care products, and cannabis-based goods are among the industries now targeted by the plaintiffs' bar.

Perkins Coie has been a leader in defending food and CPG litigation cases, securing favorable, precedent-setting results for its clients. The firm's resident knowledge base includes attorneys from its nationally recognized Retail & Consumer Products industry group and, within that group, attorneys focused on food and beverage and consumer packaged goods.

Visit Perkins Coie's Food Litigation News blog for the latest updates and insights on litigation activity in the food and beverage industry.