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On Aug. 19, a class action lawsuit was filed against Costco Wholesale Corp., alleging the retailer knowingly sells shrimp in their store locations that was farmed in Thailand using slave labor. Furthermore, the Costco class action lawsuit claims the store neglected to inform consumers of this allegedly illegal business practice.
According to the Costco shrimp class action lawsuit, the retailer buys and sells prawns that are farmed by Southeast Asian companies such as Charoen Pokphand Foods PCL, a Thai company that is also named as defendant in this class action lawsuit, which rely on slave labor to farm the product. Charoen and other companies allegedly employ “ghost ships” that officially do not exist and do not dock and ports often in order to continue their slave labor practices.
This Costco shrimp class action lawsuit was filed by plaintiff Monica Sud, who alleges Costco was aware that the prawns were farmed using illegal business practices including slavery and human trafficking. The complaint goes on to claim that the retailer was aware that the farmed prawn’s feed meal was produced through pirate fishing.
In response to these shrimp slave labor allegations, particularly those connected to the Thai seafood industry over the past year, a Costco spokesperson stated: “Costco Wholesale has been working with and will continue to work with various stakeholders (including the Thai government, other retailers and Thai industry) to address the issues that have surfaced. In the meantime, all of our customers know that if they are dissatisfied with any purchase from Costco Wholesale, they can return the item for a full refund.”
Costco and Charoen Pokphand have a longstanding, established business relationship, and many of the Thai seafood companies products are prominently displayed in Costco grocery chain locations, Sud alleges in her shrimp class action lawsuit.
This is not the first time Costco has been under the microscope for allegedly illegal business practices and relationships. In June of last year, The Guardian newspaper published an investigation regarding the Thai seafood industries litany of human rights violations. This report also mentioned that Costco specifically sells prawns that come from a Thai supply chain tainted by slave labor.
Sud’s Costco shrimp class action lawsuit claims that Costco violated California state business laws by sourcing and selling shrimp and prawn food products that use and perpetuate slave labor. Sud also alleges Costco falsely claimed to enforce their no slave labor policy when it was in fact profiting from slave labor committed in the Thai seafood industry. Other allegations launched against the grocery store chain in this shrimp class action lawsuit include violation of California’s laws concerning misleading and deceptive advertisement and violation of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act.
The plaintiff is seeking injunctive relief from Costco, as well as restitution, attorney’s fees, court costs, and other forms of relief deemed fit by the court.
Sud is represented by Niall P. Mccarthy, Anne Marie Murphy and Shauna R. Madison of Cotchett Pitre & Mccarthy LLP, Derek Howard of the Howard Law Firm, and Daniel J. Mulligan of Jenkins Mulligan & Gabriel LLP.
The Costco Shrimp Class Action Lawsuit is Sud, et al. v. Costco Wholesale Corp., et al., Case No. 3:15-cv-03783, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
UPDATE: On Jan. 24, 2017, a San Francisco federal judge dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit claiming that Costco knowingly sold frozen prawns which were farmed in Thailand by slave labor.
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UPDATE: On Jan. 24, 2017, a San Francisco federal judge dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit claiming that Costco knowingly sold frozen prawns which were farmed in Thailand by slave labor.
I buy these all the time