Costco Hepatitis A Lawsuit Wins Class Certification

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A class action alleging Costco, Townsend Farms, and other defendants sold a defective berry mix that caused a hepatitis A outbreak will continue forward after it won class certification.

In U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter’s order issued on Jan. 25, ruled that “the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Motion [for certification], insofar as it seeks to certify nine single-state subclasses for the purposes of determining liability.”

The Costco frozen berry recall class action lawsuit, originally filed in June of 2013, alleges that Townsend Farms purchased a batch of pomegranate seeds from Turkey that were infected with hepatitis A. The company used those berries in a “Townsend Farms Organic Anti-Oxidant Blend, a frozen berry and pomegranate seed mix” sold only at Costco stores.

In May of 2013, the Center for Disease Control linked a hepatitis A outbreak in the Western U.S. to one batch of the Townsend berry mix, according to the class action lawsuit.  After the CDC notified Costco of the outbreak, the company pulled the berry mix, and in June of 2013 starting notifying customers who purchased it to get vaccinated as soon as possible. The Costco class action lawsuit states that 162 people ultimately contracted hepatitis A from the defective berry mix.

The nine named plaintiffs in the Costco hepatitis A outbreak class action all claim that they purchased Townsend Farms berry mix from Costco during that May-June time period. After being notified of the outbreak, most of the plaintiffs purchased a hepatitis A vaccine at their own expense, and some also paid for blood tests.

The Costco hepatitis A frozen berry recall class action lawsuit seeks damages for all “residents of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, or Washington who: (1) consumed the recalled product—that is, Townsend Farms Organic Anti-Oxidant Blend frozen berry-mix purchased at Costco and subject to the recall that was announced in press releases that the Townsend Farms issued on June 4 and 28,2013, and (2) received preventive medical treatment, including an injection of hepatitis-A vaccine or immune globulin, blood tests, and other associated costs.”

Costco and the other defendants argued that there are too many differences in state law, in how people bought and consumed the berry mix, and in the medical care people received to allow everyone’s claims to move forward as a class. Judge Carter disagreed, finding that “given this suit involves a single product, sold only at Costco, during a limited and defined period of time,” the case could move forward as a single class action.

However, Judge Carter did remove some of the plaintiffs’ allegations from the lawsuit, and certified the class as nine “subclasses,” one for each state involved in the Costco lawsuit. Furthermore, the class action will only decide whether or not Costco, Townsend Farms, and the other defendants caused injury to the plaintiff classes. The class may be separated later when it comes time to prove damages for each plaintiff.

The plaintiffs and certified classes are represented by Frederic L. Gordon of Gordon & Holmes, Richard R. Waite of Keeney Waite & Stevens, and William D. Marler of Marler Clark LLP.

The Costco Hepatitis A Frozen Berry Recall Class Action Lawsuit is Jacob Peterson, et al., v. Costco Wholesale Co. Inc., et al., Case No. SA CV 13-1292-DOC, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division.

UPDATE: On Oct. 26, 2016, Costco has failed to bring a quick end to a three-year old litigation over berries contaminated with hepatitis A, following a federal judge’s decision.

UPDATE 2: On Nov. 28, 2016, a group of consumers urged a California federal judge to reject Costco’s motion for summary judgment in a class action lawsuit over frozen berries allegedly contaminated with hepatitis A.

UPDATE 3: On Jan. 17, 2017, a class action alleging a frozen berry mix sold by Costco was contaminated with hepatitis A will be allowed to continue after a California federal judge’s ruling.

UPDATE 4: On June 6, 2018, Costco urged a federal court to toss a class action over frozen berries that were allegedly contaminated with hepatitis A because none of the plaintiffs claim that they had actually become ill after consuming the product.

UPDATE 5: On Oct. 31, 2018, consumers were able to get Costco to agree to reimburse medical expenses for those affected by an alleged hepatitis A frozen berry recall, as a part of a class action settlement.

UPDATE 6: On Jan. 17, 2019, a federal judge presiding over a frozen berry Costco class action lawsuit has denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss non-California plaintiffs from the case.

UPDATE 7: March 2019, a website for Class Members in a Costco hepatitis A berries class action lawsuit has been launched. Click here to learn more.