Townsend Farms Inc. v. Goknur Gida Maddeleri Enerji Imalat Ithalat Ihracat Ticaret ve Sanayi A.S., et al

Filing 18

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE WHY CASES SHOULD NOT BE CONSOLIDATED by Judge David O. Carter. Plaintiffs in all cases shall serve this minute order upon any defendants who have not yet appeared. The parties shall file a joint response to this Order to Show Cause on or before July 27, 2015. A status conference to discuss scheduling of all cases is set for August 3, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. (mba)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
CIVIL MINUTES – GENERAL
Case No. SACV 13-1292-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 14-1176-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0620-DOC (FFMx)
SACV 15-0663-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0837-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0840-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0841-DOC (JCGx)

Date: June 23, 2015

Title: JACOB PETERSEN v. TOWNSEND FARMS INC. et al.
MICHAEL WALTERS, et al. v. COSTCO WHOLESALE CO., INC., et al.
MERRI GLECKLER, et al. v. COSTCO WHOLESALE CO., INC., et al.
ELISABETH LUETHY v. TOWNSEND FARMS, INC., et al.
TOWNSEND FARMS, INC. v. GOKNUR GIDA MADDELERI ENERJI IMALAT
ITHALAT IHRACAT TICARAT VE SANAYI A.S., et al.
PURELY POMEGRANATE, INC., et al. v. FALLON TRADING COMPANY, et al.
KATHERINE KELLY, et al. v. TOWNSEND FARMS, INC., et al.

PRESENT:
THE HONORABLE DAVID O. CARTER, JUDGE
Nancy Boehme
Courtroom Clerk

Not Present
Court Reporter

ATTORNEYS PRESENT FOR PLAINTIFF:
None Present

ATTORNEYS PRESENT FOR DEFENDANT:
None Present

PROCEEDINGS (IN CHAMBERS):

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE WHY
CASES SHOULD NOT BE
CONSOLIDATED

Before the Court are seven related cases:
(1) Petersen, et al. v. Townsend Farms, Inc., et al., 13-1292
(2) Walters, et al. v. Costco Wholesale Co., Inc., et al., 14-1176
(3) Gleckler, et al. v. Costco Wholesale Co., Inc., et al., 15-0620
(4) Luethy v. Townsend Farms, Inc., et al., 15-0663

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
CIVIL MINUTES – GENERAL
Case No. SACV 13-1292-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 14-1176-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0620-DOC (FFMx)
SACV 15-0663-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0837-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0840-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0841-DOC (JCGx)

Date: June 23, 2015
Page 2

(5) Townsend Farms, Inc. v. Goknur Gida Maddeleri Enerji Imalat Ithalat Ihracat
Ticarat ve Sanayi A.S., et al., 15-0837
(6) Purely Pomegranate, Inc., et al. v. Fallon Trading Company, et al., 15-0840
(7) Kelly, et al. v. Townsend Farms, Inc., et al., 15-0841
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 42(a), “If actions before the court involve a
common question of law or fact, the court may: (1) join for hearing or trial any or all
matters at issue in the actions; (2) consolidate the actions; or (3) issue any other orders to
avoid unnecessary cost or delay.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 42(a). “Consolidation is permitted as a
matter of convenience and economy in administration, but does not merge the suits into a
single cause, or change the rights of the parties, or make those who are parties in one suit
parties in another.” Enterprise Bank v. Saettelle, 21 F.3d 233, 235 (9th Cir. 1994)
(quoting Johnson v. Manhattan Ry., 289 U.S. 479, 496-97 (1933)). “The district court, in
exercising its broad discretion to order consolidation of actions presenting a common
issue of law or fact under Rule 42(a), weighs the saving of time and effort consolidation
would produce against any inconvenience, delay, or expense that it would cause,” as well
as any prejudice it may cause. Huene v. United States, 743 F.2d 703, 704 (9th Cir. 1984).
Based on the Court’s review of the operative complaints in all seven cases, all of
them involve the same outbreak of Hepatitis A in ten states caused by the distribution and
consumption of a frozen berry and pomegranate seed mix product sold at Costco. The
various claims in these cases fall into three general categories:
First, Petersen is a putative class action brought on behalf of individuals who
incurred vaccination costs as a result of exposure to the defective product or to people
who had consumed the product and become ill with Hepatitis A. The class does not
include people who actually contracted Hepatitis A because of the product. Petersen
Fourth Amended Compl. ¶ 22.
Second, Walters, Gleckler, Luethy, and Kelly are brought by individuals who
allege that they contracted Hepatitis A as a result of consuming the product. Walters
Second Amended Compl. ¶¶ 2.1-4.3; Gleckler Compl. ¶ 1; Luethy Compl. ¶¶ 37-45;
Kelly Compl. ¶¶ 39-43.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
CIVIL MINUTES – GENERAL
Case No. SACV 13-1292-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 14-1176-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0620-DOC (FFMx)
SACV 15-0663-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0837-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0840-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0841-DOC (JCGx)

Date: June 23, 2015
Page 3

Third, Townsend Farms and Purely Pomegranate involve companies in the
distribution chain suing other companies upstream of them in the distribution chain.
Townsend Farms Compl. ¶ 10-16; Purely Pomegranate ¶ 15-27. Similarly, the thirdparty complaints in Petersen and Walters involve companies suing other upstream
companies. Petersen Third-Party Compl.; Walters Third-Party Compl.
Each company in the distribution chain is so far represented by the same counsel
in all of the cases in which they have appeared. The Court notes that the corporate
defendants in the later-filed cases, Gleckler, Luethy, Kelly, Townsend Farms, and Purely
Pomegranate, have not yet appeared (except that Townsend Farms, Inc. and Purely
Pomegranate, Inc. have appeared as defendants in Luethy).
The plaintiffs in the Consumer Cases are represented by three sets of attorneys.
The plaintiffs in Petersen and Walters are represented by Markler Clark LLP. The
plaintiffs in Gleckler are represented by Elliott & Elliott. The plaintiffs in Luethy and
Kelly are represented by the Law Offices of Ofer M. Grossman.
A litigation schedule has already been set in Petersen and Walters, the first two
filed cases. The hearing on class certification in Petersen is scheduled for July 27, 2015.
Both cases have a discovery cut-off date of March 18, 2016; a summary judgment motion
cut-off date of June 13, 2016; final pretrial conference on July 18, 2016; and trial on
August 14, 2016.
Given that the facts in these seven cases are closely related, the Court is inclined to
adopt the dates already in place for Petersen and Walters for all of the later-filed cases.
Accordingly, the Court ORDERS as follows:
 Plaintiffs in all cases shall serve this minute order upon any defendants who have
not yet appeared.
 The parties shall file a joint response to this Order to Show Cause on or before
July 27, 2015.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
CIVIL MINUTES – GENERAL
Case No. SACV 13-1292-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 14-1176-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0620-DOC (FFMx)
SACV 15-0663-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0837-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0840-DOC (JCGx)
SACV 15-0841-DOC (JCGx)

Date: June 23, 2015
Page 4

 A status conference to discuss scheduling of all cases is set for August 3, 2015, at
8:30 a.m.
The Clerk shall serve this minute order on the parties.
MINUTES FORM 11
CIVIL-GEN

Initials of Deputy Clerk nkb