Companies these days are aware that many consumers care about the environment and so often tout their efforts at sustainability and environmental responsibility. The complaint for this class action, however, brings suit against Grimmway Enterprises, Inc. for making what it alleges are false claims about things like “regenerative farming practices” and “preserving our natural resources.”
The class for this action is all persons living in California who bought Grimmway goods or products, for personal use and not for resale, between September 7, 2018 and the present.
According to the complaint, Grimmway products include things like carrots and carrot juice, protein drinks, and salad dressings, which are sold in supermarkets and other retail stores in California.
The complaint quotes a number of statements allegedly from Grimmway, for example, leading consumers to believe that the company’s manufacturing process “restores” the ecosystem, or claiming that it has implemented “smarter water usage,” that “will help Grimmway be more resilient to future droughts as well as address the over drafting of aquifers in key areas.”
In another statement, the complaint says, Grimmway claims that “regenerative farming practices have enabled us to efficiently manage risk while doing right by our employees, customers, consumers, and the environment,” and that its practices “protect and preserve our natural resources.”
But in reality, Grimmway’s practices harm the ecosystem and its neighbors, the complaint claims, because “while a large portion of the Grimmway goods are grown and manufactured in areas designated to be above an aquifer titled the Cuyama Valley Groundwater Basin…, the Grimmway methods regarding water use have caused and/or contributed to chronic overdraft of the aquifer.” This is anything but environmentally healthy, the complaint alleges, because this overuse causes and contributes “to severe water restrictions, plant and animal ‘die-off,’ and other damage, none of which can ever be rationally or reasonably described as ‘regenerative.’”
The complaint also quotes Grimmway’s “Inaugural Report on Environmental, Social and Governance Actions,” in which the company claims it “continues to grow sustainably” including “reducing our carbon footprint” and “preserving our natural resources.” But in fact, the complaint alleges, “Grimmway has actively sought to continue its decades-long practice of overdrafting, which is neither ‘sustainable,’ nor ‘preserving … natural resources.’ Grimmway’s overdraft practices have actually increased its carbon footprint, and damaged the Cuyama Valley ecosystem.”
Grimmway widely disseminates its claims to be environmentally conscious, the complaint alleges, including on its website, through publications, and within its marketing materials. But the complaint labels these claims as “false, untrue, and misleading” and says that the Cuyama Aquifer been designated as being in a condition of “critical overdraft,” which the complaint alleges is “due in large part to the Grimmway methods and practices…”
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Grimmway “Sustainable” and “Regenerative” Environmental Claims Complaint
December 22, 2022
Companies these days are aware that many consumers care about the environment and so often tout their efforts at sustainability and environmental responsibility. The complaint for this class action, however, brings suit against Grimmway Enterprises, Inc. for making what it alleges are false claims about things like “regenerative farming practices” and “preserving our natural resources.”
Grimmway “Sustainable” and “Regenerative” Environmental Claims ComplaintCase Event History
Grimmway “Sustainable” and “Regenerative” Environmental Claims Complaint
December 22, 2022
Companies these days are aware that many consumers care about the environment and so often tout their efforts at sustainability and environmental responsibility. The complaint for this class action, however, brings suit against Grimmway Enterprises, Inc. for making what it alleges are false claims about things like “regenerative farming practices” and “preserving our natural resources.”
Grimmway “Sustainable” and “Regenerative” Environmental Claims Complaint