Wild Planet Settles Underfilled Tuna Class Actions for $1.7M

Parties have reached a $1.7 million settlement resolving allegations that cans of Wild Planet tuna were underfilled.

Plaintiffs Ehder Soto and Heney Shihad submitted the proposed Wild Planet tuna class action settlement for court approval this past Wednesday.

The settlement resolves two separate canned tuna class action lawsuits, each raising false advertisement allegations against defendant Wild Planet Foods Inc.

Under terms of the Wild Planet tuna settlement, the defendant will pay a total of $1.7 million into a settlement fund to resolve all Class Members’ claims.

Each qualifying Class Member can expect to receive a payment of $29 – possibly less, if the total amount of claims exceeds the available funds. Plaintiffs estimate the number of qualifying Class Members could reach into the millions.

In their motion for preliminary approval, plaintiffs describe the settlement as an excellent result for Class Members.

“[A] recovery of $29 cash is a substantial portion of the maximum recovery any Settlement Class Member could reasonably expect, considering the relatively low cost of a can of tuna, only a fraction of which is alleged to be underfilled,” the plaintiffs say.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys credit the efficient resolution of their claims in part to Wild Planet’s cooperation with requests for documents and scientific testing.

Both plaintiffs alleged that Wild Planet had been short-changing customers by underfilling cans of tuna below the 5-ounce weight stated on the cans’ labels. Soto filed his Wild Planet tuna class action lawsuit in November 2015, and Shihad followed with his own separate action in March 2016.

The court linked the two actions the next April. Discovery and settlement negotiations began soon after that.

According to the plaintiffs, testing conducted in 2015 and 2016 by experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration revealed that cans of tuna under the Wild Planet and Sustainable Seas brands did not measure up to their stated weights.

The alleged underfilling was in violation of federal law, according to Soto and Shihad. Their Wild Planet tuna class action lawsuits raised common law claims, claims for breach of warranty, and claims for violation of California consumer protection laws.

A hearing on the proposed Wild Planet tuna settlement is set for May 11, 2017.

The proposed settlement Class would represent all U.S. residents who, from Nov. 5, 2011 to the date the court grants preliminary settlement approval, purchased any can of tuna produced by, for, or on behalf of Wild Planet, including cans sold under the Wild Planet and Sustainable Seas brands.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys L. Timothy Fisher and Scott A. Bursor of Bursor & Fisher PA, Reuben D. Nathan of Nathan & Associates APC, and Ross Cornell of Law Offices of Ross Cornell APC.

The Wild Planet Tuna Class Action Lawsuits are Ehder Soto v. Wild Planet Foods Inc., Case No. 5:15-cv-05082, and Heney Shihad v. Wild Planet Foods Inc., Case No. 1:16-cv-01478, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: The Wild Planet, Sustainable Seas class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

UPDATE 2: On April 25, 2018, Top Class Actions viewers started receiving settlement checks worth $9.11 from the Wild Planet canned tuna class action settlement. Congratulations to all our viewers who filed a claim and got PAID!