Corporations producing artfully crafted and all-natural products turn to Hussey when they want to dismiss putative class actions alleging such descriptions are false and misleading.
In the past year Hussey, who serves as Perkins Coie LLP's national counsel in the defense of global pharmaceutical companies, medical device makers and food and beverage companies, successfully led the defense against two noteworthy suits.
A putative class action brought by a man claiming to have been misled by the labeling on his Blue Moon beer was dismissed in October by a federal judge in the Southern District of California.
"That was the first case where there was an attempt to legally define 'craft beer,'" Hussey said. "It was great when people asked what I was working on. While the Brewer's Association has a definition for 'craft,' there is no legal definition."
The plaintiff in the case argued that use of the Blue Moon Brewing Co. trade name surreptitiously obfuscated MillerCoors' ownership of the Belgian-style witbier. While that argument failed to stand in court, plaintiff modified his argument and a second motion to dismiss is currently pending.
"The case now challenges a smattering of random items, including the fact that Blue Moon is often listed by third party restaurants under the heading 'Craft Beers,' the size of the brew tanks and the number of brewers in promotional videos," Hussey said.
Another case in the Southern District alleged violations to California's Unfair Competition Law in relation to Campbell Soup Co.'s Prego line up "100 percent Natural" spaghetti and pizza sauces.
"Plaintiff argued the claim was false, but had zero information to support that argument," Hussey said.
The noteworthy rise of labeling class actions in recent years seems to have plateaued, Hussey said.
"Plaintiff's counsel seems to have saturated the food labeling market at this point."
- Philip Johnson
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