Perkins Coie is pleased to announce the launch of our eighth annual Food & Consumer Packaged Goods Litigation Year in Review. Accompanying the 2023 report are infographics that highlight key litigation outcomes, filing data, and industry trends. As always, the report offers a summary of the past year’s key litigation outcomes, regulatory developments, and filing data using metrics from our proprietary database, accompanied by infographics, developed by our food and consumer packaged goods (CPG) litigation team in order to track and understand trends in this growing area, including legal trends in cannabis.

Attorneys in Perkins Coie’s Food Litigation practice have defended false labeling cases across a broad range of products and industries. As our practice area has expanded, we have continued to pay close attention to the litigation environment for emerging trends, important developments in case law, and related regulatory guidance across CPG product categories, including personal care products, pet food, cannabis products, and supplements. We use this real-time tracking to help advise clients on risk and develop effective defense strategies for companies facing class litigation. This data further informs the national conversation on the growing area of food law, including law school courses and media coverage.

In 2023, the drumbeat of class actions filed against the CPG industry remained constant. Filings maintained a sustained pace and continued aggressiveness in search of new theories of liability. We also saw plaintiffs’ lawyers returning to seemingly dormant theories, attacking, for example, “natural” claims on food and personal care products with renewed vigor.

Perkins Coie has been a leader in defending food and CPG litigation cases, securing favorable, precedent-setting results for its clients. The nationally recognized Retail & Consumer Products industry group includes attorneys focused on food and beverage and consumer packaged goods. Our food litigation team is regularly called upon to comment on national trends driving the industry, including in trade publications and national media outlets.