New York’s consumer protection laws are particularly attractive to the plaintiff’s bar. One reason is the availability of “statutory” damages under New York’s General Business Law (“GBL”). While most states’ consumer protection laws limit plaintiffs’ recovery to their actual damages, if any, Sections 349 and 350 of the GBL guarantee minimum statutory damages of $50 (for a violation of § 349) and $500 (for a violation of § 350). So, for example, a consumer who paid $5 for a bottle of juice with a purportedly deceptive label (and paid only a fraction of that price as the “premium” associated with the allegedly deceptive claim) might nevertheless seek to recover a total of $550 in statutory damages under the GBL—more than 100 times what he actually paid for the product.
When a single plaintiff seeks to recover statutory damages under the GBL, even a hundredfold multiplier is unlikely to result in a substantial damages award. But a recent jury verdict in Montera v. Premier Nutrition Corp., No. 3:16-cv-6980 (N.D. Cal.), illustrates the potentially catastrophic consequences of applying this statutory scheme to class actions. In Montera, a jury found that the maker of “Joint Juice” drink products had violated the GBL by making false claims about the beverage’s ability to provide consumers with “pain and/or arthritis relief.” 2022 WL 1465044, at *1 (N.D. Cal. May 9, 2022). The jury decided that the class members’ actual economic damages—calculated according to what they would...
WASHINGTON (TNND) — FBI Director Kash Patel clashed with a Democratic lawmaker Tuesday during a Senate subcommittee budget hearing, forcefully denying allegations that he drinks excessively on the...