Revised $12M StarKist Tuna Class Action Settlement Gets Final OK

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Last Thursday, a California federal judge gave final approval to a revised $12 million class action settlement over allegations StarKist Co. underfilled cans of StarKist tuna, causing consumers to overpay for the product.

In February, U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam denied the StarKist tuna settlement after finding the deal was unfair to consumers.

The proposed tuna class action settlement was initially supposed to provide consumers with $8 million in cash and $4 million in vouchers redeemable for StarKist tuna products.

Although the judge found that the compensation offered to Class Members was reasonable, he ultimately decided to reject the StarKist class action settlement due to an amended “release of claims” that was submitted after he had already preliminarily approved the settlement—and after Class Members had already been notified about the deal.

The judge found that the new amendment too broadly released the tuna company from future claims, including antitrust claims that were never at issue in the underfilled tuna can litigation.

On Sept. 29, Judge Haywood found that the parties removed the terms of the tuna class action settlement which provided for an overly broad release of future claims against StarKist and found that the deal warranted final approval.

“Because the parties have removed the language discharging federal and state antitrust claims from the release and because the latest release narrows the scope of claims discharged, there is no longer a risk that Class Members have relinquished rights without knowledge of new claims,” Judge Haywood wrote in his final approval order. “Accordingly, the release no longer poses an obstacle to the fairness, adequacy, or reasonable of the settlement.”

According to court documents, more than 2.5 million Class Members submitted claims for the StarKist tuna settlement.

About 900,000 claimants opted to receive vouchers valued at about $4.40 each, and the remaining claimants opted to receive cash payments estimated to be about $2 per claim.

The StarKist tuna class action lawsuit was filed in 2013 by plaintiff Patrick Hendricks. He claimed that 5-ounce cans of StarKist tuna contained less tuna than allowed under federal law.

The plaintiff alleged that StarKist tuna cans contain only an average of 2.81 to 3.11 ounces of tuna even though federal law requires 5-ounce cans to contain an average of 2.84 to 3.23 ounces of tuna.

The parties agreed to settle the StarKist tuna class action lawsuit in May 2015.

The deadline to file a claim for the StarKist tuna class action settlement passed on Nov. 20, 2015.

Top Class Actions will continue to follow the StarKist tuna settlement and post updates as they’re made available. You can receive these updates by signing up for our free newsletter and/or marking this article as a “Favorite” using your free Top Class Actions account to receive automatic notifications when this article is updated.

Class Members are represented by Scott A. Bursor, Neal J. Deckant and L. Timothy Fisher of Bursor & Fisher PA.

The StarKist Tuna Class Action Lawsuit is Patrick Hendricks v. StarKist Co., Case No. 3:13-cv-00729, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Oct. 19, 2018, a $12 million StarKist Tuna class action settlement survived the appeals process in the Ninth Circuit, meaning that the settlement can finally move forward.

UPDATE 2: On Sept. 21, 2019, Top Class Actions viewers started receiving checks in the amount of $2.38 or $5.03 in coupons from a StarKist Tuna class action settlement. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!