Securing a Highly Favorable Award in a Civil Jury Trial

In 2013, more than 160 hepatitis A cases were reported across the western United States. The CDC and FDA conducted multiple investigations to find the source, eventually linking the outbreak to consumption of Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend, a blend of frozen berries and pomegranate arils sold at Costco. Further tracing revealed that the most likely vehicle for the virus was contaminated lots of pomegranate arils from a company in Turkey, Göknur Foodstuffs Import Export Trading, which had sold the lots to supplier Purely Pomegranate Inc (PPI).

Townsend Farms, PPI, and their insurers had settled approximately $40 million in consumer claims. They filed suit against Göknur, seeking reimbursement for all claims and associated litigation expenses as well as a declaration that Göknur would be obligated to indemnify PPI and Townsend Farms for all pending and future claims that were alleged to arise out of the outbreak.

Cohen Williams stepped in to represent Göknur, which denied liability for the outbreak, and took the case to trial in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. As trial neared, CW made a pivotal discovery that called the CDC and FDA’s findings into question: Townsend Farms had used more than one Turkish pomegranate supplier. After a painstaking review of thousands of pages of production logs and records, we determined that another company, Sanex, had supplied arils that wound up in the implicated lots of antioxidant blend. In fact, some of the implicated lots contained solely Sanex arils.

At trial, partner Marc Williams and the rest of the CW team submitted indisputable evidence that, although Göknur had provided some contaminated arils, they had not caused the entire outbreak—or the totality of the losses suffered by the plaintiffs. We also demonstrated that the CDC and FDA had failed to account for Sanex as a plausible source of hepatitis A contamination. The judge ordered both agencies to bring in representatives who could testify at trial. Once the witnesses took the stand, Marc put forth a line of questioning that exposed substantial flaws in the government’s investigation. Indeed, when asked if their conclusions would have changed had they been aware of Sanex’s involvement, the witness from the CDC said yes.

Swayed by the depth and rigor of CW’s arguments, the jury held Göknur liable for less than 7 percent of the $40 million in damages caused by the outbreak. They also awarded Townsend Farms $4.8 million in punitive damages, which CW contested on appeal. The case went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where we argued that the plaintiffs had not presented sufficient evidence of Göknur’s financial condition to obtain punitive damages under California law. The court sided with our client, striking the jury's unlawful punitive damages award.

Ultimately, our efforts resulted not only in a favorable compensatory damages award that preserved the continuity of Göknur’s business, but also in the restoration of its reputation amid a highly publicized outbreak.