JULY 15, 2024 – The class action defense group at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, co-led by partner Jacob Harper, secured a high-profile win for Big Lots and other defendants in a lawsuit filed by prolific false advertising plaintiffs' lawyer, Spencer Sheehan, including obtaining dismissal of the case and attorney's fees against the plaintiff and Sheehan as counsel.
The complaint against Big Lots alleged that certain ground coffee containers sold at Big Lots misstated the number of servings they contained. The judge found it "patently implausible that any reasonable consumer would be deceived by the Product's label here" and dismissed the case with prejudice. Following this ruling, the court granted Big Lots' request to impose full-fee sanctions against Sheehan. As the prevailing party, Big Lots successfully moved for attorney's fees, not only against the plaintiff, but also directly against plaintiffs' counsel. The judge chastised Sheehan for acting "in bad faith" by filing the same claims in Florida that had been dismissed in New York. Explaining the unusual monetary penalty, the judge wrote: "Absent a financial cost for their intransigence, Plaintiff's counsel—and the plaintiffs they recruit—will continue filing frivolous lawsuits around the nation with impunity."
The decision adds to the DWT team's ongoing success in obtaining early dismissals against Sheehan, as well as practice-stopping sanctions and deterrence from future suits. Sheehan faces $180,000 in penalties in the Big Lots coffee case, which DWT, representing Big Lots, previously got dismissed in the Western District of New York.
Harper was assisted in the case by counsel Heather Canner.
The Big Lots case is among a succession of recent class action lawsuits targeting food and beverage companies and grocery retailers on which the DWT team has prevailed. For example:
- In June, DWT's team secured dismissal of a multimillion-dollar federal class action lawsuit in California alleging that private-label avocado oil was adulterated and mislabeled. The win ended a first-of-its-kind test case in which plaintiffs attempted to use specious oil testing as a basis for their complaint.
- This month, DWT's class action team, together with co-counsel, won a decision from the Washington State Court of Appeals, upholding dismissal of a putative class action alleging grocery stores improperly charged sales tax on coconut water and other beverages. This was the first major decision finding that questions about whether a grocer's juice tax is an "excise tax" under the multistate model tax code (which governs more than a dozen states) must be adjudicated by the state tax authority.
About Davis Wright Tremaine
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is an AmLaw 100 law firm with more than 600 lawyers representing clients based throughout the United States and around the world. Learn more at www.dwt.com.