Facts

Chad Brazil brought a class action suit against Dole Packaged Foods LLC.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff alleged several of defendant's food products contained labels that were false and misleading in that the products claimed to be "all natural," but contained artificial ingredients and flavoring, artificial coloring and chemical preservatives.

DEFENDATN'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendant argued that the class should be decertified because plaintiff's expert's "Regression Model" was fundamentally flawed and unable to measure only damages attributable to the alleged misbranding. Defendant further argued that the both the "Damages Class" and the "Injunction Class" should be decertified because it was not ascertainable.

Result

The court denied defendant's motion to decertify the "Injunction Class." The court, however, granted defendant's motion to decertify the "Damages Class." The court held, in part, that plaintiff's "proposed damages model failed to provide a means of showing damages on a class-wide basis through common proof," and plaintiff failed to show common issues predominate over individual issues.

Other Information

FILING DATE: April 11, 2012.