ST. LOUIS - Dairy consumers who sued several national chains and the largest U.S. provider of store-brand organic milk claiming they falsely labeled the milk can continue with their lawsuit under a federal appeals court ruling issued Wednesday.
Target organic-milk lawsuit to go forward
September 16, 2010 at 12:37AM
The ruling from the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means a lower court must hear claims that Aurora Organic Dairy's milk was deceptively marketed as coming from small farms with open pastures.
"Each defendant is alleged to have misrepresented the manner in which the dairy cows were raised and fed in violation of various state deceptive trade practices laws," the ruling said.
The lawsuits against Aurora and retailers including Target Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Wild Oats Markets Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. also claimed Aurora's milk should not be called organic.
But the court blocked that claim because the U.S. Department of Agriculture hasn't withdrawn Aurora's organic certification.
Aurora, based in Boulder, Colo., and the USDA reached an agreement in 2007 that included changes in Aurora's operations and that allowed the company to retain its organic certification.
Aurora spokeswoman Sonja Tuitele said the company couldn't comment on the latest ruling because parts of the case remain in active litigation.
A Target spokeswoman said that the company no longer carries Aurora milk and that the company would not comment on the litigation.
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