Federal Court Denies Request to Consolidate Nationwide Baby Food Heavy Metal Cases
By: Amy Wong
Key Takeaway: Courts are reluctant to centralize industry-wide cases involving competitors as it rarely promotes judicial efficiency and complicates discovery. For now, the baby food cases will proceed in their respective forums.
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has denied a motion to centralize and consolidate 38 lawsuits pending in 10 districts against baby food companies alleging that the companies knowingly sold baby food products containing heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury), and falsely marketed these products as healthy and as not containing harmful ingredients. In re Baby Food Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2997, 2021 WL 2369296 (JPML, decided June 7, 2021).
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