Whole Foods Must Face Hypoallergenic Label Class Action

Whole Foods must face a class action lawsuit claiming that the market sells household and body-care products labeled as hypoallergenic that actually contain allergens.

Whole Foods attempted to have the allergen class action lawsuit dismissed, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler partly denied this motion.

WFM Services markets store brand “private label” products through its “365 Everyday Value” and “Whole Foods Market” product lines.

Though Judge Beeler rejected the motion to dismiss the entire class action lawsuit, she did grant Whole Foods’ bid to have claims against WFM Distribution tossed — WFM Distribution distributes the foods in question around the country.

Judge Beeler did not dismiss the entire allergens class action lawsuit, however, because she decided that the court has jurisdiction because the Whole Foods’ website services the state of California, and WFM Services runs the website.

The Whole Foods class action lawsuit was filed by Shosha Kellman in 2017. She claimed that Whole Foods improperly labeled some products as hypoallergenic in an attempt to capitalize on a growing consumer preference for hypoallergenic products. Allegedly, this labeling was improper because the products allegedly included many allergens.

According to Kellman’s class action lawsuit “despite its marketing scheme, WF’s products are chock-full of known skin sensitizers (allergens), agents that cause serious skin damage, chemicals that cause serious eye damage lasting longer than 21 days, skin irritants, and eye irritants.”

Allegedly, the products also contain other undesirable ingredients including known carcinogens, mutagens, reproductive toxins, and other hazardous chemicals.

The Whole Foods class action lawsuit was trimmed in June 2018. Kellman then filed a fourth amended version of her allergen class action lawsuit in January. She seeks damages on behalf of two Classes — a Class of California consumers and a Class of consumers around the country.

According to Judge Beeler, Kellman had sufficiently established that the court has jurisdiction over WFM Services because the website serves California and because the site provides links for customers to purchase products through Amazon and Instacart, a California-based service.

However, WFM Distribution will not have to face Kellman’s claims because Judge Beeler ruled that Kellman had not sufficiently established that WFM Distribution does business in California.

Fighting back against Kellman’s claims, WFM Distribution argued that it does not distribute products directly to Whole Foods, but in fact distributes to another company that distributes to Whole Foods.

Though Whole Foods attempted to have Kellman’s proposed nationwide Class of consumers scrapped, Judge Beeler allowed the proposed Class to continue, saying that the motion to dismiss was premature because Whole Foods had not yet established how each state’s laws differed in a way that would make a nationwide Class not viable.

Kellman is represented by Stephanie R. Tatar of Tatar Law Firm and James A. Francis and David A. Searles of Francis & Mailman PC.

The Whole Foods Allergen Class Action Lawsuit is Kellman, et al. v. Whoel Foods Market Inc., et al., Case No. 3:17-cv-06584, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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