CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) - A Chicago federal judge promises to keep an eye on a prolific class action lawyer who has filed more than 400 lawsuits since 2020.
Judge Steven Seeger has had few nice things to say about attorney Spencer Sheehan during pursuit of a class action that alleged consumers expected more milkfat in the caramel Nips hard candies.
it's one of hundreds of lawsuits Sheehan has filed against the food industry. "By the look of things, attorney Sheehan is filing consumer fraud cases over and over again, seemingly covering just about every aisle in the grocery store, without much success," Seeger previously wrote.
He tossed the Nips case earlier this year and told Sheehan that if he wanted to file an amended complaint, he needed to provide a spreadsheet of all his recent cases and whether they survived motions to dismiss.
Sheehan did, chronicling 440 lawsuits since January 2020. But Sheehan never filed an amended complaint in the Nips case.
"Suffice it to say that this case about creamy candy has left this Court with a sour taste in its mouth" Seeger's May 11 order entering final judgment for Ferrara Candy Company says.
"The theory of the case was not close to viable... This Court will keep that spreadsheet in hand and in mind, just in case Plaintiff's counsel files another case in this district with the same basic theory.
"Going forward, counsel should proceed with eyes wide open."
Sheehan first gained notoriety as the "vanilla vigilante," filing a host of lawsuits that claimed vanilla flavoring in products did not contain traditional vanilla.
Sheehan has sued because the strawberry flavoring in Pop-Tarts comes from pears and apples and is dyed red. He complained Bagel Bites have cheese that is a blend made with skim milk and feature tomato sauce that contains ingredients consumers wouldn't expect (the judge hearing that case called his claims "unreasonable and unactionable").
An Illinois Southern District judge called him a "serial filer of frivolous litigation."
Pepperidge Farm, fighting a case that says its Harvest Wheat crackers should contain more whole wheat flour than enriched whole wheat flour, said the suit couldn't pass the standard that a "reasonable consumer" would be misled. The basis of the suit should depend "on the likely reaction of a reasonable consumer rather than an ignoramus," it argued.
In March, Sheehan lost a lawsuit that said the fudge in fudge-covered Oreos should adhere to traditional definitions of "fudge" by containing more milk fat and not palm oil and nonfat milk.
"He vaguely suggests that this is 'inconsistent with what consumers expect,' but provides nothing to support why a reasonable consumer would not expect ingredients that, in Plaintiff's own words, are 'often used' in fudge." Judge Paul Crotty wrote.
A month earlier, he lost a case against Coca-Cola over pina colada-flavored Fanta that said consumers expect real pineapple and coconut, not flavoring.
Mondelez Global has already asked an Illinois judge to penalize Sheehan, filing a motion to dismiss and a motion for sanctions simultaneously in February in a case that says gum-chewers expect mint-flavored Trident to contain real mint. The judge in that case said the motion for sanctions is premature and would revisit it, if necessary, once he rules on the motion to dismiss.
"Plaintiff's counsel tends to file the same copy-and-paste complaint in all his many cases, regardless of how frequently his claims have been dismissed," the motion for sanctions says. "Courts have repeatedly admonished him for doing so and have threatened sanctions.
"In cases like this one, sanctions are appropriate to deter serial filers."
Sheehan does have some successes, like his inclusion on the team of lawyers who won a $9.5 million settlement over whether Vizzy hard seltzers expect them to be healthier than they are. He and two other firms are set to take $2.5 million in fees.