Fairlife $21 Million Milk False-Ad Deal Gets Judge’s First Nod

Coca-Cola Co. unit Fairlife LLC and consumers got an Illinois federal judge’s early approval for a $21 million class settlement resolving allegations that Fairlife misleadingly promoted premium dairy products as sourced from humanely treated cows.

Consumers sued Fairlife, Coke, and others, alleging that video footage released by an animal rights organization showed some dairy cows that produced the touted Fairlife milk products suffered inhumane treatment and abuse.

Coke and Fairlife charged a price premium for the express promises that the cows were treated humanely, but didn’t have systematic measures in place to ensure that those promises were truthful, the consumers ...