In a December 2013 post, Two More Food Labeling Class Action Rulings: Harbingers of the New Year?, we lauded Southern District of Florida Judge James Cohn for dismissing claims in a food-labeling class-action lawsuit based on the labeling of products that the plaintiff, Ms. Reilly, never actually purchased.
Judge Cohn issued two more opinions in Reilly v. Amy's Kitchen, Inc. on March 7. After this one-two punch, the life of Reilly's case may be no more.
In the first decision, Judge Cohn denied the plaintiff's motion to reconsider his December 9 order that Reilly lacked standing to sue for alleged injuries caused by products she didn't purchase. In the second, Judge Cohn dismissed the remaining claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. We'll focus on the second ruling here.
Amy's Kitchen argued in its motion to dismiss that Reilly's dramatically thinner suit (from 60 claims to 3 after the December 9 order) failed to achieve the requisite amount in controversy of $5 million under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). Unlike the plaintiffs in these food-labeling class actions, who likely could never produce proof of their purchases if asked, the defendants had very precise sales records. Amy's Kitchen presented evidence that during the period of time Reilly alleges she was injured, it sold only $1,045,993 of the supposedly offending pizzas, veggie burgers, and enchiladas in Florida.
Judge Cohn agreed that because Reilly never had standing to sue for all 60 products, she could not meet the $5 million amount-in-controversy requirement from the outset. The court held it could dismiss the suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction"unless it appears to a 'legal certainty' that Plaintiff's remaining claims meet CAFA's $5 million jurisdictional minimum." Reilly attempted to argue that the value of the injunctive relief she sought, combined with attorneys' fees, could elevate the three claims to $5 million. Judge Cohn found such a possibility (as Wallace Shawn’s Vizzini in The Princess Bride liked to say) "inconceivable," which falls quite short of "legal certainty."
Judge Cohn dismissed Reilly's claims without prejudice, but it seems unlikely an amended complaint will change the judge's mind. Reilly will proceed with her appeal of the trial court's December 9 standing decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which, we expect, will be as unsuccessful as her motion to Judge Cohn for reconsideration.
