Class Action: California Wineries ‘Secretly Poison’ Consumers With Too Much Arsenic

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A group of more than two dozen California wineries was hit with another class action lawsuit, alleging that their wines contain unsafe levels of inorganic arsenic that are considered dangerous for human consumption.

Plaintiff Zahira Crespo Bithorn, a resident of Puerto Rico, filed the California wine class action lawsuit in a Louisiana federal court on Monday. It is nearly identical to a class action lawsuit filed in March against the exact same wineries in the California Superior Court of Los Angeles County.

The wines named in the class action lawsuit include Charles Shaw, sold at Trader Joe’s stores, Cupcake, Cooks wine, Simply Naked, Corbett Canyon, Beringer and others.

According to the class action lawsuit, “three separate testing laboratories skilled in arsenic testing have now independently confirmed that several California wineries (including those named as defendants in this action) instead produce and market wines that contain dangerously high levels of inorganic arsenic.”

The levels of inorganic arsenic reportedly found in these studies was “in some cases up to 500 percent or more than what is considered the maximum acceptable safe daily limit.”

Bithorn alleges that “just a glass or two of these arsenic-contaminated wines a day over time could result in dangerous arsenic toxicity to the consumer.”

The arsenic-laced wine class action lawsuit explains that most wineries have methods to filter out inorganic arsenic to levels that are considered acceptable for human consumption.

Bithorn alleges that the wine makers named in the class action lawsuit “knowingly and recklessly engaged in a consistent pattern and practice of selling arsenic-contaminated wine . . . without disclosing either the existence of the toxin in their product, or the health risks it posed, thereby secretly poisoning wine consumers in direct violation of the laws of all 50 states and federal law.”

According to the arsenic wine class action lawsuit, “California wineries typically do not disclose the ingredients or chemicals (beyond alcohol contend and sulfites) that are present in the wine they are selling.”

And their wines are not monitored or tested by any government regulatory agency “to ensure they are free from toxic poisons that could sicken or kill consumers over time,” and this includes inorganic arsenic.

This leaves “wineries to police their own wines, and wine consumers to fend for themselves,” the class action lawsuit alleges.

Organic and inorganic arsenic may both be present in wine, but “inorganic arsenic is substantially more toxic and dangerous to humans,” with the ability to allegedly make someone severely ill, cause cancer, type-2 diabetes and bring on early death.

Bithorn is looking to represent a nationwide class and a Louisiana class of anyone who has purchased wines that are named in the class action lawsuit. Those wines include:

•Acronym (GR8RW Red Blend)

•Almaden (Heritage White Zinfandel, Heritage Moscato, Heritage Chardonnay, Mountain Burgundy, Mountain Rhine, Mountain Chablis)

•Arrow Creek (Coastal Series Cabernet Sauvignon)

•Bandit (Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon)

•Bay Bridge (Chardonnay)

•Beringer (White Merlot, White Zinfandel, Red Moscato, Refreshingly Sweet Moscato)

•Charles Shaw (White Zinfandel)

•Colores Del Sol (Malbec)

•Glen Ellen by Concannon (Glen Ellen Reserve Pinot Grigio, Glen Ellen Reserve Merlot)

•Concannon (Selected Vineyards Pinot Noir)

•Cook’s (Spumante)

•Corbett Canyon (Pinot Grigio, Cabernet Sauvignon)

•Cupcake (Malbec)

•Fetzer (Moscato, Pinot Grigio)

•Fisheye (Pinot Grigio)

•Flipflop (Pinot Grigio, Moscato, Cabernet Sauvignon)

•Foxhorn (White Zinfandel)

•Franzia (Vintner Select White Grenache, Vintner Select White Zinfandel, Vintner Select White Merlot, Vintner Select Burgundy)

•Hawkstone (Cabernet Sauvignon)

•HRM Rex Goliath (Moscato)

•Korbel (Sweet Rose Sparkling Wine, Extra Dry Sparkling Wine)

•Menage A Trois (Pinot Grigo, Moscato, White Blend, Chardonnay, Rose, Cabernet Sauvignon, California Red Wine)

•Mogen David (Concord, Blackberry Wine)

•Oak Leaf (White Zinfandel)

•Pomelo (Sauvignon Blanc)

•R Collection By Raymond (Chardonnay)

•Richards Wild Irish Rose (Red Wine)

•SeaGlass (Sauvignon Blanc)

•Simply Naked (Moscato)

•Smoking Loon (Viognier)

•Sutter Home (Sauvignon Blanc, Gerwurztraminer, Pink Moscato, Pinot Grigio, Moscato, Chenin Blanc, Sweet Red, Riesling, White Merlot, Merlot, White Zinfandel)

She is charging the wine makers with violating Louisiana  consumer protection laws, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, redhibition, negligence, and unjust enrichment.

Crespo-Bithorn is represented by John F. Nevares of John F. Nevares & Associates PSC.

Counsel information for the defendants is not yet available.

The California Toxic Arsenic Wine Class Action Lawsuit is Bithorn v. The Wine Group Inc. et al., Case no. 3:15-cv-01424, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.