When a person is harmed as the result of a product or action resulting from the negligence of another person or even a company, they have the option of filing a personal injury lawsuit to try to recover damages. When there are a number of people who have been harmed by the same party, they can join together to bring one lawsuit against the negligent party rather than filing individual suits.
Chobani is a popular brand of yogurt that has recently run into some legal problems. You may have heard about the issues people had begun reporting at the beginning of September when several people had found mold in their Chobani yogurt. Initially, the company released a statement saying that the mold was not harmful to consumers, but now a class actioning food poisoning lawsuit has been filed against Chobani Greek Yogurt.
The lawsuit was filed by Harold Green in a California federal court and refers to the recall that was issued by Chobani on September 5th when reports of yogurt products contaminated by mold started appearing on the news. When the recall was issued the company said that no one had been made sick by the mold and that the mold had been identified and it was not harmful.
But in his lawsuit, plaintiff Harold Green alleged that Chobani has so far failed to actually identify which strain of mold was found its its Greek yogurt. On August 12 Green bought 16 cups of Chobani Greek Yogurt. His whole family consumed the yogurt that had a “best by” date from September 11 through October 7, 2013. The yogurt had a manufacturing code of “16-012.”
According to Green’s lawsuit, the company only generally referred to the type of mold, saying that the mold present in the yogurt is “common in the dairy environment,” yet “still unacceptable to me and all of our yogurt makers.” The statement was issued by the founder and CEO of the company, Hamdi Ulukaya at the time of the recall.
The food poisoning lawsuit made the assertion that this “vague and generalized statement does nothing to alleviate the concerns of thousands of customers who potentially could get sick, and many of whom already have, as a result of consuming the Yogurt that contained a harmful or potentially strain of mold.” The lawsuit continues on to refer to a statement that the U.S. Department of Agriculture made which said that there are molds which can cause allergic reactions and lead to respiratory problems. According to the Department of Agriculture, under a certain set of conditions, certain strains of mold can cause illness by producing mycotoxins. The class action suit on behalf of Green and others who found mold in their yogurt, makes the claim that Chobani was negligent by allowing the mold to happen and was in breach of the implied warranty of merchantability for food.
