PC Food Litigation Index: October 2018

Each month we will be sharing the PC Food Litigation Index, a summary of latest class action filings in the food and beverage industry. This data is compiled by Perkins Coie based on a review of dockets from courts nationwide. October 2018 filings continued an upward trend exceeding 2017's pace.  As in the later months of 2017, October 2018 filings focused on false labeling, slack-fill, and all-natural. Both slack-fill claims filed this month pertained to products in opaque bags—Justin's mini peanut butter cups and Harvest Snap snack products. Natural claims targeted La Croix sparkling water, Hershey fruit-flavored chocolate, and maple syrup. White chocolate and pasta sauce were popular targets also. Plaintiffs in Ruiz v. Living Intentions LLC and Rafael v. Starbucks Corp. sued in New York over products that allegedly do not contain white chocolate as defined by the FDA. Plaintiffs in Illinois and California, (Kubilius v. Barilla America, Inc. and Flolo v. Cucina & Amore Inc.) sued claiming that that the defendants' pasta sauces, which are advertised as containing no preservatives, actually contain citric acid—a chemical both plaintiffs allege constitutes a preservative. Mr. C.K. Lee of the Lee Litigation Group represents all four sets of plaintiffs in the white chocolate cases and the pasta sauce cases. Annual Filing Trends Filings by Jurisdiction Filings by Category