SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - A company targeted by a supposed health advocate says in court papers that the group was created by lawyers solely to file lawsuits and is using one of its founders' former secretaries to serve as a plaintiff.
B&G Foods is arguing against further delay of its litigation against Environmental Health Advocates and Kim Embry. The company made SnackWells-brand cookies and found itself sued in Alameda Superior Court in California under the state's Proposition 65, which requires warning labels on products that contain ingredients on the Prop 65 list as probable carcinogens.
The suits against B&G involved acrylamide, a naturally occurring compound that appears in foods and coffee. Litigation against dozens of defendants was initially successful in extracting settlements, but regulators and judges have found no basis for acrylamide's inclusion on the Prop 65 list.
B&G sued EHA and Embry in federal court in 2020. Years later, EHA and Embry asked the judge hearing the case to allow them to amend their answer to the second amended complaint, drawing resistance from B&G on Oct. 31.
"(Environmental Health Advocates) was formed by a group of lawyers," the company's lawyers wrote. "Despite its name, EHA has not pursued any environmental activities."
B&G says EHA has filed more than 1,700 Prop 65 claims through the years, some of which listed Embry, who now lives in Spain, as the plaintiff. She is the former secretary of one of EHA's founders, the company says.
B&G says EHA and Embry have abused their authority to bring Prop 65 lawsuits by unconstitutionally compelling speech through "shakedown lawsuits, which serve to extract settlements rather than protect the public interest."
The Alameda lawsuits were based on falsified records, spoliated evidence and cherry-picked test results, B&G said. They were dismissed, while B&G's lawsuit against EHA and Embry survived their motion to dismiss in June.