Eike v. Allergan, a consumer class action certification case about allegedly over-generous allotments of fluid in eyedrop dispensers, raises two questions: how’d this case get past the motion-to-dismiss stage? And, second, how did Judge Richard Posner manage to go out on such a very extended cat metaphor in a case having nothing to do with cats? [Lowering the Bar, Chicago Tribune, ABA Journal]
Posts Tagged ‘advertising’
Food roundup
- Sugar, fat, and the state’s role in nutritional misinformation: Cato Unbound with Gary Taubes and commenters;
- Montreal authorities ban new restaurants in some neighborhoods, which seems to be just fine with owners of some incumbent eateries [Baylen Linnekin]
- Among other ominous trends for the hip-restaurant sector, including customer burnout and advance of food delivery apps, health insurance and wage mandates sure don’t help [Kevin Alexander, Thrillist]
- Latest slack-fill class action alleges there’s too much air in box of Nestle Raisinets [TMZ] Behind wave of class actions over food/beverage labeling, packaging [Jessica Karmasek, Legal NewsLine]
- What could go wrong? Scotland considers joining Ukraine in enacting a legal right to food [Mental Floss]
- Restaurant in Turin, Italy, asks diners to sign waiver before consuming hot-pepper-laden dish [La Stampa, in Italian]
“For women, heavy drinking has been normalized”
Drinking rates for women have risen, and the Washington Post takes the time-honored route of blaming the advertisers. Some Twitter reactions: “In all fairness, the advertisers have been strapping them down w/ duct tape and pouring the booze down their throats.” [@jeffsiegel] “PSA: (Most) Grown women have the mental faculties to make their own choices, and that’s a good thing.” [@katmurti] And if women weren’t targeted, WaPo’s OpEd: “Can we talk about the fact alcohol is primarily marketed to men?” [@alex_amurillo]
Lawsuit: components of McDonald’s value meal were cheaper separately
A lawsuit claims a McDonald’s franchisee should pay because the components of its “Extra Value Meal” were cheaper separately [Chicago Tribune]
“The $20 Million Bucket of Chicken”
KFC’s menu states that its “Fill-Up” $20 deal includes eight pieces of chicken plus a variety of sides that it thinks will serve a party of four. A Hudson Valley, N.Y. woman says she was misled by advertising materials that showed an overflowing bucket. The company offered her a coupon in recompense for her disappointment, but she wants $20 million instead in individual (not class) damages. [Nick Farr, Abnormal Use; Fortune] More: Baylen Linnekin rounds up poultry-related litigation.
Australia: Irish pub in trouble over vintage tobacco signs on walls
Owner Paul North of J.B. O’Reilly’s, a popular Irish pub in a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, “could face prosecution or hefty fines” 
after Health Department inspectors discovered at his business a display of tobacco advertising, which is now banned there. The advertising in question? “Antique signs and memorabilia, including a number of collectable tobacco signs dating back more than 120 years,” although “most of the brands [are no longer] on the market and J.B. O’Reilly’s [does not sell] any tobacco products.” [Brisbane Times] Update: bar wins reprieve after provincial premier overrides health department directive.
Update: “Judge tosses suit from caddies who claimed they were ‘human billboards'”
Following up on a post from a year ago: “Caddies lost their class-action lawsuit against the PGA Tour when a federal judge in California ruled they signed a contract with the tour that requires them to wear bibs as part of their uniform and cannot claim that corporate sponsorship on the bibs makes them human billboards.” [AP/Fox]
Schools and childhood roundup
- “Someone could have put their hand in the window and unlocked the door and taken the kids” [Lenore Skenazy/Free Range Kids; related stories here and here; similar, Illinois Policy]
- Police warn that plan in Scotland to provide state guardian for every child could backfire in abuse investigations [Telegraph, more on “named person” scheme]
- Also from Scotland: Law Society says proposed ban on liquor promotion is so broad it might snag parent wearing rugby-sponsor jacket at school pickup [Express]
- Judge rejects Mississippi school finance suit [Andrew Ujifusa, State Education Watch, background]
- Widespread criticism of Michigan judge for sending kids to juvenile detention for not wanting to have lunch with their father [Radley Balko]
- “Two Parents Weren’t Sure How Their Little Girl Fractured Her Leg, So CPS Took the Kids” [Lenore Skenazy, more, yet more on “medical kidnapping”]
- Caleb Brown and Andrew Grossman discuss educator-dues case of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association [Cato Daily Podcast, earlier on case, its SCOTUSBlog page]
Take that, authenticity
Staffers from the New York City Commission on Human Rights comb Craigslist for improper job ads and hit pay dirt when they found one from the Indian restaurant Shalom Bombay seeking an “experienced Indian waiter or waitress.” A judge decided to cut the fine on the owners from $7,500 to $5,000; documents in the case noted the lack of any evidence that the ad had real-world consequences. The restaurant has been out of business for more than a year. [“Indian restaurant fined for trying to hire Indian waiter,” New York Post]
Feel cheated to learn something you buy was made in USA? This is for you
“Even consumers who don’t have receipts may be entitled to as much as a $12 refund. And that’s true even for beer drinkers who have known all along that Beck’s is no longer made in Germany.” [Jacob Gershman and Tripp Mickle W$J on class action suits saying beverage companies should have warned more conspicuously that some foreign-sounding beers are actually brewed in U.S.]