Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Costco Wholesale Corp. must face a federal lawsuit accusing them of selling milk mislabeled as organic, a U.S. appeals court ruled.
A three-judge panel of the St. Louis-based court today revived consumer litigation against those and other retailers and the Aurora Dairy Corp. in Boulder, Colorado, which produced the milk they sold under store-branded labels. The decision overrules a trial judge who dismissed the claims.
“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 appeals court said in a 33-page ruling.
The consumers seek unspecified compensatory damages for having allegedly bought “organic” milk that wasn’t authentically organic, together with statutory and punitive awards.
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