Judge throws out peanut butter class action
Poisoned victims of the Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter salmonella debacle from last year cannot launch a class action lawsuit against manufacturer ConAgra, which was blamed for thousands of illnesses in 2006 and 2007.
Atlanta U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. ruled that a class action would not serve the purpose of compensating thousands of plaintiffs.
The judge pointed out that ConAgra has refunded more than $33 million to consumers and retailers and these refunds were “likely more effective” than a class action.
The lawyers for this case filed two classes of plaintiffs — those who had purchased the tainted peanut butter and those who were sickened or died after eating it.
Presently, there are at least 6,000 individual personal injury cases pending and that most of those trials would proceed whether or not a class action was certified, according to the judge. Therefore, a class action lawsuit would be “expensive, unnecessary, meaningless,” he said.
ConAgra did a massive recall following four deaths that stemmed from the salmonella contamination of their peanut butter. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) received reports of 628 illnesses, including 71 hospitalizations. Health officials agree that there were probably many other cases that were not reported or investigated.
Salmonella is a potentially fatal bacteria strain that is found in about a fifth of harvested peanuts. The 2007 incident was not the first case of contamination in ConAgra products.
Other than the cases filed against ConAgra in Atlanta, there are also a big number in other states.
Related posts:
- Peter Pan/Great Value Peanut Butter
- Bayer not sued in a class action for bio-tech rice
- DuPont C8 water contamination case may get class action status
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