Tillamook Class Action Says Creamery Falsely Advertises Milk Source

A class action lawsuit says Tillamook falsely advertises its dairy products as being sourced from small family farms, when actually Tillamook gets the majority of its milk from the largest industrialized factory farm in the nation.

The Tillamook class action lawsuit was filed by Sonja Bohr, Tamara Barnes, Karen Foglesong, and Mary Wood, in conjunction with the Animal Legal Defense Fund who is the nation’s prominent “legal voice” for farm animals, as well as captive and companion animals, wildlife and animals used in research.

The three customers say they purchased Tillamook dairy products from multiple retailers because they saw advertising around Tillamook’s dairy sourcing, and believed that the products were made from milk sourced from traditional, “pasture-based farms in Tillamook County, Oregon.”

Allegedly, they discovered that the products were sourced from large factory farms after purchasing the products. The consumers say they were financially injured by the products because had they known the true origins of the dairy products, they would not have purchased them or would not have paid as much as they did for them.

The Tillamook class action lawsuit says that customers are willing to pay a premium for products they believe are produced humanely and sustainably. Allegedly, the company knew that customers are willing to pay more for these products.

The Tillamook class action lawsuit asserts that Tillamook took advantage of customers’ preference for sustainable, humanely produced products to sell more of their dairy products than they otherwise would, and to charge a premium for them, thereby maximizing their products.

The Tillamook customers assert that Tillamook dairy milk comes from cows on a large factory farm in Eastern Oregon who do not have the opportunity to graze on grass.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund states that “Rather than living freely on the rolling green hills depicted in Tillamook advertising, the cows are artificially impregnated, have their calves ripped from them shortly after birth to stimulate milk production, and are continuously confined and milked by robotic carousels at this cement-floored factory farm.”

The Tillamook misrepresentation class action lawsuit says that Tillamook engages in intentionally misleading marketing that cause “likelihood of confusion” around the source of its dairy products.

The customers and the Animal Legal Defense Fund say Tillamook’s packaging, websites and other advertisements represent cow care and family involvement as central to their production.

“Consumers care about animals. That’s why they are increasingly seeking out products that cause less animal suffering,” says Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells. “Tillamook is exploiting consumers’ desire to treat animals better by misleading people about how its cows are kept. This violates the public’s trust and violates the law.”

Some false representations by the company reportedly include the claims that Tillamook products are “made with…old fashioned farmer values in Tillamook, Oregon,” and that the dairy is produced by farms run by “families [that] have been farming in Tillamook County for multiple generations.”

To emphasize that these representations have a significant impact on consumer perception, the Tillamook cheese class action lawsuit says that a recent consumer survey of Pacific Northwest consumers indicated that most Tillamook customers believe that Tillamook “sources milk from small-scale family farms and not large industrial dairy farms,” and that these farms are located in Tillamook County. Allegedly, customers said that they got this perception from Tillamook advertising.

Bohr, Barnes, Foglesong, and Wood are represented by David F. Sugerman of David F. Sugerman Attorney PC and by Kelsey Eberly and Amanda Howell of the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

The Tillamook Dairy Misrepresentation Class Action Lawsuit is Sonja Bohr, et al. v. Tillamook County Creamery Association, Case No. 19CV36208, in the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon in and for the County of Multnomah.

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