A Positive Outlook for Investors Struck in ‘Food Court’
Sanders lawyers Kiran Mehta, Molly Jagannathan and Kristen Schneider had their article – “ A Positive Outlook for Investors Struck in ‘Food Court’” – published in Law360 on February 16.
While commenting upon the “recent explosion of consumer class actions featuring ‘false advertising’ claims” and noting that “in just the past few years a cottage industry has developed over the use of the term ‘natural’ to describe or advertise snack food products, and over 200 class actions have been filed against manufacturers,” the trio analyze a number of recent Supreme Court decisions that may make it harder to sustain the cases at the initial pleading stage, and also raise the bar for class certification. The authors conclude that although no one wants to be “sued for tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars on a false labeling claim on behalf of millions of consumer purchasers, firms should take comfort that an aggressive defense of these claims can and often does pay dividends, either in the form of outright dismissal or in the form of greatly reduced settlement value.”