NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - Chobani is fighting a class action lawsuit over the Fair Trade USA certification it places on its products.
Agnes Herceg filed the lawsuit June 17 in New York federal court, claiming the Fair Trade USA Certified representation lacks meaningful protections for workers and animals. But that's not our fault, Chobani says in a Dec. 15 motion to dismiss.
"Plaintiff does not and cannot allege that Chobani did not meet the Fair Trade USA standards," the motion says. "Instead, Plaintiff takes issue with the Fair Trade USA standards themselves and alleges that they 'fall short' of different standards propounded by a different third-party organization."
Lawyers at Richman Law & Policy and Esbrook P.C. filed the case, which says Chobani chose to meet the Fair Trade USA standards instead of stricter rules proposed by dairy workers themselves.
The suit said the Fair Trade USA standards are weak on issues like minimum wage and overtime and do not include standards for animal care. Chobani, in response, said it pays a premium to farms that meet Fair Trade's standards and that it was disappointed to be caught up in a "frivolous" lawsuit.
"Additionally," the motion says, because Plaintiff does not even allege what she understood the Challenged Representations to mean or how those representations harmed her, she fails to establish any actionable injury, let alone any causal connection between those representations and any purported injury.
Other claims made under the New York General Business Law and for breach of express warranty are too vague to be allowed to proceed, Chobani says.