Ethics
eleventh Circuit upholds $144K sanction towards meals business lawyer for repeating failed allegations in second go well with
August 28, 2025, 12:12 pm CDT
A $144,000 lawyer charges sanction has been upheld by a federal appeals courtroom, which was imposed on New York meals labeling lawyer Spencer Sheehan for submitting a false promoting declare towards Huge Heaps in a Florida federal courtroom that repeated allegations in a failed lawsuit in one other jurisdiction. (Photograph by Len Irish/ABA Journal)
A federal appeals courtroom has upheld a $144,000 lawyer charges sanction imposed on New York meals labeling lawyer Spencer Sheehan for submitting a false promoting declare towards Huge Heaps in a Florida federal courtroom that repeated allegations in a failed lawsuit in one other jurisdiction.
In an Aug. 27 opinion, the eleventh U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals at Atlanta upheld a dedication that the lawyer time was cheap, as had been the hourly charges of $625 to $950. The appeals courtroom additionally rejected Sheehan’s argument that the award was an extreme high quality in violation of the Eighth Modification.
The sanction represented lawyer charges incurred by Huge Heaps in reference to motions to dismiss the go well with and award lawyer charges. The low cost retailer was represented by Davis Wright Tremaine.
Sheehan is thought for his fits towards meals firms for alleged deceptive claims on their labels. His fits have contended that “fudge” cookies aren’t coated with actual fudge, “strawberry” pastries additionally include different fruits, detergent laundry load claims are deceptive, and merchandise with “vanilla” have flavoring that doesn’t completely come from vanilla beans.
In response to previous protection by Reuters, Sheehan filed greater than 500 client fits over allegedly false and deceptive labels between January 2020 and April 2023.
Sheehan’s Huge Heaps go well with, filed within the U.S. District Court docket for the Center District of Florida, had alleged that the retailer used labeling that inflated the variety of servings in cans of its Contemporary Finds espresso. The go well with alleged that the espresso label promised “as much as 210 prompt power 6 fl oz servings,” when the precise yield wasn’t “anyplace near 210 cups.”
Senior U.S. District Decide Gregory A. Presnell of the Center District of Florida had tossed the go well with in March 2024 after noting {that a} federal decide had dismissed a “almost equivalent” go well with filed within the U.S. District Court docket for the Western District of New York.
The New York courtroom stated Sheehan’s declare targeted solely on the directions for brewing a single serving of espresso whereas overlooking directions for bigger batches that required 20% much less floor espresso. When contemplating the label as an entire, an affordable client wouldn’t be misled, the New York courtroom concluded.
Presnell additionally faulted Sheehan for failing to observe native courtroom guidelines by repeatedly failing to file professional hac vice motions in circumstances filed within the Center Distrit of Florida federal courtroom. Presnell stated Sheehan appeared in 29 circumstances however filed filed professional hac vice motions in solely two out of 24 circumstances by which he was directed to file them.
Sheehan didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark despatched by e mail and left in a voicemail together with his regulation agency.
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