SAN JOSE, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – An Aptos resident is suing a producer of canned tuna over claims that its product is underfilled.
Ehder Soto, on behalf of himself and others similarly situated, filed a class action lawsuit on Nov. 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Wild Planet Foods Inc., citing violations of the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, California’s Unfair Competition Law, California’s False Advertising Law, breached various warrant contracts, negligently misrepresented itself, fraud, and were unjustly enriched.
The plaintiff asserts that the defendant’s Sustainable Seas Tuna products are underfilled and thus substantially underweight. Plaintiff argues that government testing revealed that 5 of 5 lots tested – and 120 of 120 individual cans tested – failed to meet the federally mandated minimum standard of fill. Soto claims that independent testing by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration "determined that, over a sample of 24 cans, 5-ounce cans of Sustainable Seas Solid Albacore Tuna in Water contain an average of only 2.25 ounces of pressed cake tuna when measured precisely," the complaint states. He argues that this is 30.3 percent below the federally mandated minimum standard of fill of 3.23 ounces for these cans. The same results were discovered with Sustainable Seas Solid Light Tuna in Water, which was 31.3 percent lower than average.
Soto is seeking a jury trial and relief in the form of compensatory and punitive damages; pre-judgment interest on all amounts awarded; an order of restitution and all other forms of equitable monetary relief; injunctive relief as pleaded or as the court may deem proper; and any other rewards deemed proper by the court. He is represented by attorneys L. Timothy Fisher, Julia A. Luster, and Scott A. Bursor from Bursor & Fisher, P.A. in Walnut Creek, California and New York, New York, respectively.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California case number 5:15-cv-05082-BLF