The lawsuit claims Fairlife engaged in fraud and unjust enrichment for promoting the 'extraordinary care and comfort' of its cows on its milk labels, violating numerous state consumer protection laws.
ALEXA ELEJALDE-RUIZ: ‘Chicago-based Fairlife, under fire after the release of a video showing animals being mistreated at one of its supplying dairy farms, is being sued for fraud for promoting the “extraordinary care and comfort” of its cows on its milk labels. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Chicago federal court by a California man who was a consumer of Fairlife milk, seeks class-action status. It names Fairlife as well as Mike and Sue McCloskey, owners of Fair Oaks Farms in northwest Indiana where the alleged abuse took place, as defendants… The suit claims Fairlife and McCloskeys engaged in fraud and unjust enrichment and violated numerous state consumer protection laws. It seeks to include anyone who purchased Fairlife milk nationwide in a class…
The suit comes as Animal Recovery Mission, an animal welfare nonprofit based in Miami, continues to release more videos from its undercover investigation of Fair Oaks Farms, which runs a popular agri-tourism business that draws families and school groups. On Wednesday the animal welfare group released a new video showing cows struggling to stand while being milked and contrasts it to the way the milking process is portrayed to visitors on the farm’s Dairy Adventure tour… It shows workers punching and pushing adult cows with their feet as they struggle to get them into the milking carousel, and some cows falling and being pinned as the system rotates. According to the animal welfare group, frustrated workers would bend and break cows’ tailbones when they wouldn’t cooperate…
The Newton County Sheriff’s Office on Monday announced charges against three workers in the video authorities identified as participating in abuse. One suspect, Edgar Gardozo-Vasquez, 36, of Brook, Ind., has been arrested and is being held at the Newton County Jail… The founder of Animal Recovery Mission, Richard Couto, said that charging low-level workers falls short and that authorities should prosecute the owners of the farm… At a news conference Wednesday in Chicago, Couto denied that his investigator was involved in mistreatment.
“I want to be very clear: Our worker took no part in any type of abuse in any of the locations,” said Couto, who was clad in military fatigue pants. “None of the workers were hired or staged by Animal Recovery Mission.” Couto targeted Fair Oaks Farms after attending its Dairy Adventure tour, which he said presents a rosy image of how cows are treated that doesn’t reflect the behind-the-scenes reality. Investigators applied for jobs at 12 different dairies under the Fair Oaks Farm umbrella and shot undercover video at the ones where they were hired, he said’. SOURCE…