Darigold Hit With Sick Cow Class Action Lawsuit

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A potential class action lawsuit was filed on Monday against Darigold Inc. over allegedly marketing and selling milk produced in part by sick or injured cows. The Darigold class action lawsuit also accuses the company of mistreating its dairy workers by threatening them, and denying them drinkable water and rest periods.

Darigold markets its milk, according to the class action lawsuit, as if it places great care on dairy conditions, worker safety and the  health of its cows, when this is not the case.

According to its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report, the Darigold lawsuit says, the dairy cooperative “markets and sells its milk and dairy products as if they were produced in an environment that places utmost care on animal health, food safety, and labor protections for its employees. In reality, however, some of Darigold’s milk is produced under conditions in which dairy cows are injured and sick, where despite suffering from bloody and swollen udders, cows are still milked, and where workers are denied the most basic labor protections, such as drinkable water, lunch rooms, meal and rest periods, and an environment free of discrimination.”

Plaintiffs Yesenia Ruiz, of San Mateo County, Calif., and Fernando Dorantes, of Bend, Ore., have been purchasing Darigold milk for several years. Both say they read and relied on information in Darigold’s CSR regarding worker conditions and cow health in their purchases of milk. Both plaintiffs purchased milk several times a week. According to the Darigold milk class action lawsuit, “[h]ad Darigold not misrepresented, concealed, withheld, or otherwise failed to disclose information about the conditions under which Darigold products were produced, [Ruiz and Dorantes] would not have purchased Darigold products and would have chosen to purchase other products instead.”

Darigold’s member dairies are accused by the class action lawsuit of treating their employees badly. According to the complaint, “some of the management at its member dairies have used guns and have threatened workers with guns if they exercise their rights or demand that laws be respected,” and accuses management of using expletives and derisive racist language in referring to its employees.

“On other occasions, when workers at Darigold dairies complained about not being provided drinking water, Darigold dairy managers have told workers that they are to drink water from the water bins provided to cows, because Mexicans are animals too,” the Darigold class action lawsuit alleges. “Darigold knows of these claims yet fails to disclose this material information to the public.”

The Darigold milk class action lawsuit includes photographs of sick and injured cows at Darigold member dairies, and alleges that Darigold knew of these problems when it published the CSR in 2010, acknowledging specific examples of allegations against Darigold for violation of several laws.

These actions are violations of California’s False Advertising Law, according to the class action lawsuit, through its allegedly untrue or misrepresentative statements, and makes claims of fraud by concealment and unjust enrichment under California, Washington and Oregon law, as well as violations of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act and Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act.

The class action lawsuit seeks to represent all consumers who purchased Darigold products in Oregon, Washington or California after Darigold published its CSR in 2010. The plaintiffs are asking that the practices stop, as well as seeking financial compensation and penalties from Darigold.

The plaintiffs are represented by Mario Martinez and Edgar I. Aguilasocho of Law Offices of Marcos Camacho, and Weeun Wang of Farmworker Justice.

The Darigold Sick Cow Class Action Lawsuit is Yesenia Ruiz et al. v. Darigold Inc. et al., Case No. 3:14-cv-02054, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.