Charles Sipos and Breena Roos were quoted in the Forbes article, "Food Companies Beware: Class Action Attorneys Aren't Slowing Down," commenting on the pace of food and beverage class action lawsuits in 2017.

Plaintiffs attorneys who target food and beverage companies with class action lawsuits are showing no signs of slowing down, according to analysis from Perkins Coie that also shows California’s lawyers are the most active.

“There’s been a return to California as the forum of preference for food and beverage class action lawsuits,” Perkins Coie’s Charles Sipos said.

Sipos said Congress is tiring of the FDA’s delay, given that it was asked in November 2015 to define “natural.” A pending appropriations bill would force the FDA to act. The agency would be required to report to Congress 60 days after the bill’s passage on the status of its rulemaking activity. “It encourages the FDA to promulgate a regulation to have some sort of uniform, standard use for that term,” Sipos said, adding that it shows Congress prefers regulation to litigation to settle the issue.

Unlike the term “natural,” slack fill has an official definition from the FDA. Fourteen of these cases have been filed in 2017, according to Perkins Coie. There were 37 last year and 30 in 2015.

Missouri is a jurisdiction to watch for these cases, Breena Roos said during the webinar. The state has recently drawn attention from legal reformers as a result of massive verdicts in talcum powder litigation in St. Louis.

“The reason why Missouri is targeted, in state court at least, is they’re considered a very plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction and it’s quite difficult to get a case dismissed early on,” Sipos added.