Filippo Berio Olive Oil Class Action Moves Forward

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The consumers in a proposed class action lawsuit against the maker of Filippo Berio olive oil have filed a motion in support of their class certification in a lawsuit that accuses the company of false advertising.

The plaintiffs say that Salov North America Corp., makers of Filippo Berio olive oil, misquoted the lead plaintiff’s testimony and wrongly claimed she was precluded from representing the Class because she was acquainted with a member of class counsel.

In her motion of support for class certification, lead plaintiff Rohini Kumar claimed that “Salov cherry-picks from Plaintiff’s deposition answers to suggest that she may not have purchased a bottle of its olive oil.” Kuhar also claimed that Salov inappropriately attacked her personal character and class counsel.

“While Salov argues that the dictionary definition of ‘imported from’ supports it, there will still need to be a class-wide decision of whether the phrase is likely to mislead reasonable consumers,” Kumar stated in her support for class certification.

In March, Salov filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit claiming that Kumar could not establish that a Class of California consumers misunderstood that “imported from Italy” meant that the Filippo Berio olive oil was only made from Italian olives. Salov also claimed there was no evidence to support that Kumar interpreted the phrase that way either.

Salov said that Kumar’s interpretation of the word “imported” meant “shipped out of,” which is consistent with common usage, thus defeating her claim.

In Kumar’s recent motion supporting the class certification bid, she said she interpreted “made in Italy” to mean “it was oil that was made from olives that were gown in Italy, crushed in Italy, bottled there, and then shipped from Italy to the United States.” She also said she recalled purchasing at least one bottle of the olive oil, despite Salov trying to state otherwise.

Kumar also addressed Salov’s alleged “misguided” assault on the proposed class counsel, saying that class counsel had acted appropriately and did not attempt to violate a discovery stay by enforcing subpoenas.

In response to Salov’s claim that Kumar was “recruited” by a friend, proposed class counsel attorney Kristen G. Simplicio, she denied that was the case and stated that “there is no rule prohibiting an attorney from representing a friend in a class action.”

Salov also claimed that Kumar’s former felony record made her honesty questionable, but Kumar stated that despite her former conviction for driving under the influence “it is well settled that such a conviction does not undermine her honesty.”

Kumar filed the class action lawsuit in 2014, saying the product label stated that olive oil was imported from Italy, but the label on the back of the product said that some olives used in the production of the oil were grown outside of Italy, then were shipped there for the blending and bottling of the product.

The proposed class action lawsuit partially survived a motion to dismiss last February, with U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruling that there was no evidence that the plaintiff had read the disclaimer on the rear label of the olive oil that explained that the olives may have been grown in other countries.

Judge Gonzalez Rogers also allowed Kumar to drop her false advertising claims related to the “extra virgin” labeling so the focus could be placed solely on the “imported from Italy” claims in January.

Kumar is represented by Adam J. Gutride, Seth A. Safier, Marie McCrary and Kristen G. Simplicio of Gutride Safier LLP, and Hassan A. Zavareei, Jeffrey D. Kaliel and Andrew J. Silver of Tycko & Zavareei LLP.

The Filippo Berio Olive Oil Class Action Lawsuit is Rohini Kumar v. Salov North America Corp., Case No. 4:14-cv-02411, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On July 15, 2016, consumers in a lawsuit against Filippo Berio olive oil have been granted class certification from a California federal judge following the judge’s rejection of the olive oil company’s argument that the lead plaintiff was not an adequate Class representative.

UPDATE 2: On Jan. 18, 2017, Salov North America Corp. has reportedly agreed to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it deceptively labeled its Filippo Berio olive oil products as being “Imported From Italy.”

UPDATE 3: The Filippo Berio Olive Oil class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

UPDATE 4: On Feb. 7, 2019, Top Class Actions viewers started receiving checks in the mail from the Filippo Berio Olive Oil class action settlement. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!