Amazon, Whole Foods Score Dismissal of Toxic Baby Food Claims

Amazon.com Services LLC and Whole Foods Market Services LLC secured dismissal of Louisiana products liability and negligence claims in a suit alleging that toxic heavy metals in baby food caused a child to develop autism spectrum disorder, a federal district court said.

Margaret and James Watkins failed to show that the defendants are strictly liable under the Louisiana Products Liability Act for their child’s injuries, or that they failed to warn customers about potential dangers in baby food, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the US District Court for the Northern District of California said in a Tuesday order dismissing the Watkins’ claims against those defendants.

These and other plaintiffs have also raised products liability claims against other defendants including Hain Celestial Group Inc. and Nurture LLC.

The Watkins’ LPLA claim failed because they didn’t plausibly allege that the retail companies exercised control or influence over a characteristic of the baby food that caused damage, the court said.

The plaintiffs didn’t allege that the defendants were involved in baby food heavy metal testing, nor did they allege that they told manufacturers what to put in the baby food, the court said.

The court said it dismissed the negligence claim against Amazon because the plaintiffs didn’t plausibly state a failure to exercise reasonable care.

The plaintiffs alleged, for example, that Amazon should have known about an industry report related to heavy metals in food. But they didn’t allege facts supporting an inference of how, when, or under what circumstances Amazon accessed this information, the court said.

The negligence claim against Whole Foods must be dismissed because the Watkins didn’t show that the company undertook services recognizable as necessary to protect customers, the court said.

The plaintiffs said Whole Foods maintained a quality standards team that developed a list of acceptable and unacceptable food ingredients, and communicated those ingredients to manufacturers.

But the Watkins didn’t plausibly allege that the company undertook to monitor goods for the presence of heavy metals, the court said. Heavy metals such as lead, mercury, or cadmium aren’t ingredients that fall within the scope of Whole Foods’ voluntary standards, it said.

Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC represented Whole Foods. Davis Wright Tremaine LLP represented Amazon. Walsh Law PLLC and Wagstaff Law Firm represent the Watkins.

The case is In re Baby Food Prods. Liab. Litig., N.D. Cal., No. 24-md-3101, 12/3/24.