Parks v. Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, LLC

377 F. Supp. 3d 241
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedApril 18, 2019
Docket18 Civ. 6936 (LLS)
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 377 F. Supp. 3d 241 (Parks v. Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Parks v. Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, LLC, 377 F. Supp. 3d 241 (S.D. Ill. 2019).

Opinion

LOUIS L. STANTON, U.S.D.J.

Plaintiff Markeith Parks brought this putative class action, on behalf of himself *244and all others similarly situated, against Defendant Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, LLC and its wholly owned subsidiary, Rachael Ray Nutrish (collectively, "Rachael Ray Nutrish"), alleging claims of deceptive business practices and false advertising under the New York General Business Law, breach of express warranty, and unjust enrichment. Defendant moves to dismiss the complaint, or alternatively, stay the action until the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") issues guidance regarding the use of the term "natural" in food labeling. For the reasons that follow, the motion to dismiss the complaint is granted.

BACKGROUND

The following facts are as alleged in the Complaint (Dkt. No. 1).

Defendant Rachael Ray Nutrish is a Pennsylvania corporation that manufactures, markets, and distributes a line of Super Premium Food for Dogs ("Products") in retail stores in New York and throughout the United States. Id. 11 3 fig. 1, 19-20. Although Rachael Ray Nutrish labels and advertises the Products as "natural," tests conducted by an independent laboratory revealed that glyphosate, an herbicide, is present in the Products. Id. ¶¶ 3-4, 6-7, 43. The Products do not disclose the presence of glyphosate. Id. 11 7, 31.

Plaintiff Markeith Parks is a citizen of New York who purchased the Products on multiple occasions at a BJ's Wholesale Club in the Bronx, New York. Id. 1 21. Parks relied on the representation that the Products were "natural" when he purchased them, and was willing to pay more for the Products because he expected them to be free of pesticides and other unnatural chemicals. Id. 11 13, 22-23.

DISCUSSION

Preemption

Defendant argues that Plaintiff's claims should be dismissed because they are expressly preempted by federal law. Def. Br. at 20-21. "The Supremacy Clause provides that '[t]his Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof ... shall be the supreme Law of the Land ... any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.' " Maryland v. Louisiana, 451 U.S. 725, 746, 101 S.Ct. 2114, 2128, 68 L.Ed.2d 576 (1981) (quoting Art. VI, cl. 2) (alteration and omissions in original). "It is basic to this constitutional command that all conflicting state provisions be without effect." Id.

In general, three types of preemption exist: (1) express preemption, where Congress has expressly preempted local law; (2) field preemption, where Congress has legislated so comprehensively that federal law occupies an entire field of regulation and leaves no room for state law, and (3) conflict preemption, where local law conflicts with federal law such that it is impossible for a party to comply with both or the local law is an obstacle to the achievement of federal objectives.

New York SMSA Ltd. P'ship v. Town of Clarkstown, 612 F.3d 97, 104 (2d Cir. 2010). "The key to the preemption inquiry is the intent of Congress." Id."Congress may manifest its intent to preempt state or local law explicitly, through the express language of a federal statute, or implicitly, through the scope, structure, and purpose of the federal law." Id. The Supreme Court has stated,

in all pre-emption cases, and particularly those in which Congress has legislated in a field which the States have traditionally occupied, we start with the assumption that the historic police powers *245of the States were not to be superseded by the Federal Act unless that was the clear and manifest purpose of Congress.

Wyeth v. Levine, 555 U.S. 555, 565, 129 S.Ct. 1187, 1195, 173 L.Ed.2d 51 (2009) (internal quotations, citations, and alterations omitted). Courts "have a duty to accept the reading that disfavors preemption" when such a reading is plausible. Bates v. Dow Agrosciences LLC, 544 U.S. 431, 449, 125 S.Ct. 1788, 1792, 161 L.Ed.2d 687 (2005).

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act ("FDCA"), enacted in 1938, grants the FDA power to ensure that "foods are safe, wholesome, sanitary, and properly labeled," and prohibits the misbranding of food in interstate commerce. 21 U.S.C. §§ 331(a) - (c), 393(b)(2)(A). In 1990, Congress amended the FDCA with the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act ("NLEA"), which sought "to clarify and to strengthen the Food and Drug Administration's legal authority to require nutrition labeling on foods, and to establish the circumstances under which claims may be made about nutrients in foods." Pub. L. No. 101-535, 104 Stat. 2353 (1990) (codified at 21 U.S.C. § 343 et seq. ); H.R. Rep. No. 101-538 (1990).

"Consistent with the statute's purpose of promoting uniform national labeling standards, the NLEA includes an express preemption provision that forbids the states from 'directly or indirectly establish[ing] ... any requirement ... made in the labeling of food that is not identical to' the federal labeling requirements established by certain specifically enumerated sections of the FDCA." Koenig v. Boulder Brands, Inc.

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Bluebook (online)
377 F. Supp. 3d 241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parks-v-ainsworth-pet-nutrition-llc-ilsd-2019.