READ THIS: Lets stick it to these businesses that cheat on organic labeling!

[puppetmaster]

If you go to this link and fill out the form you will get $10 for lawsuit. Regardless if you have your receipt or not. You may be able to get more if you have proof also.

http://www.organicmilkmarketingsettlement.com/


Legal Notice

IN RE AURORA DAIRY CORP. ORGANIC MILK MARKETING AND SALES PRACTICES
LITIGATION in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri

NOTICE OF PROPOSED SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION AND
FAIRNESS HEARING FOR COMPENSATION AND RELEASE OF CLAIMS

If you purchased Milk Products (organic milk and/or butter) produced by Aurora Organic Dairy and sold in the U.S. under certain brands, including Aurora Organic Dairy's "High Meadow" brand, Costco's "Kirkland" brand, Safeway's "Safeway Select" and "O Organics" brands, Target's "Archer Farms" brand, Wal-Mart's "Great Value" brand, and/or Wild Oats' "Wild Oats" brand, you may be entitled to compensation.

WHAT IS THIS LAWSUIT ABOUT?
Consumers sued Aurora Dairy Corporation ("Aurora Organic Dairy") and Costco Wholesale Corporation, Safeway Inc., Target Corporation, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Wild Oats Markets, Inc. (now known as WFM-WO, Inc., but referred to herein as "Wild Oats," and collectively with Costco, Safeway, Target and Wal-Mart, "Retailer Defendants") and claimed that Aurora Organic Dairy and the Retailer Defendants (collectively "Defendants") violated state consumer fraud and deceptive business practices acts, express and implied warranty statutes, and unjust enrichment laws, in connection with the sale and marketing of certain Milk Products (organic milk, organic butter, organic cream, and organic nonfat dry milk). These Milk Products include but are not limited to those sold under Aurora's "High Meadow" brand, Costco's "Kirkland" brand, Safeway's "Safeway Select" and "O Organics" brands, Target's "Archer Farms" brand, Wal-Mart's "Great Value" brand, and Wild Oats' "Wild Oats" brand. Defendants deny all allegations of wrongdoing and assert that their conduct was proper and lawful. The Court has not decided who is right and who is wrong.

WHAT ARE THE TERMS OF THE SETTLEMENT?
Under the terms of the proposed settlement, each Settlement Class member who submits a valid claim may be entitled to money. Aurora Organic Dairy and its insurers have agreed to pay $7,500,000.00 to cover claims and other settlement costs including notice and administration costs, attorneys' fees and expenses and service awards. Aurora Organic Dairy has also agreed to certain injunctive relief. For more details, write to the address or visit the website identified below.

ARE YOU AFFECTED?
If you purchased any of the Milk Products in the U.S. for personal, family or household uses on or before September 14, 2012, then you are a member of the Settlement Class. Be sure to visit the Settlement Website for complete class member information.

WHAT ARE MY LEGAL RIGHTS?
You have a choice of whether to stay in the Settlement Class or not, and you must decide now. Stay In: You will be legally bound by the terms of the settlement, and you won't be able to sue Defendants – as part of any other lawsuit – for any claims arising from or related to the Milk Products. To receive benefits from the settlement, you must submit a valid, sworn Claim Form. The Claim Form must be postmarked, faxed, or submitted online by March 13, 2013. Any member of the Settlement Class who does not timely submit a valid, sworn Claim Form will not be entitled to settlement benefits. To file a Claim Form, visit www.OrganicMilkMarketingSettlement.com. Get Out: If you get out, you will not receive benefits from the proposed settlement, but you will keep rights to sue Defendants for these claims, and will not be bound by the terms of the settlement. To be excluded from the Settlement Class, you must act by January 28, 2013. If you wish to be excluded from the Settlement Class visit www.OrganicMilkMarketingSettlement.com. Object: If you stay in any settlement class, you can object to the Settlement and must act by January 28, 2013.

WHO REPRESENTS ME?
The Court appointed Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and Gray, Ritter & Graham P.C. to represent the Settlement Class. You may hire your own attorney, if you wish, at your own expense.

THE PROPOSED SETTLEMENT:
The Court, will hold a Fairness Hearing on February 26, 2013 at 9:00 a.m., to determine whether the proposed settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate and to approve attorney's fees and costs. The Hearing is at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, 111 S. 10th Street, St. Louis, MO 63102. If you are a member of the Settlement Class who did not seek to be excluded, you may write to the Court to object to the proposed settlement, and you may ask to speak at the hearing about the fairness of the proposed settlement.

HOW CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION?
If you have questions, visit www.OrganicMilkMarketingSettlement.com, call 1-877-280-8361, or write to Aurora Organic Dairy Litigation Settlement, c/o Gilardi & Co. LLC, P.O. Box 808003, Petaluma, CA 94975-8003.

 

[TCE]

This has been going on for a while and was first tracked by the Organic Consumers Association. Essentially, Walmart, Aurora, and Horizon Organics cheated when it came to labeling their organic milk properly. Basically, don't buy Horizon Organic anything nor any store brand organic milk as it is basically the same as regular milk. Organic Valley is the good one.

This is the one you want to avoid:

 

[KerriAnn]

If I understand correctly, becoming a part of the class lawsuit only means you will get a portion of an already decided amount of money. If more people sign up as part of the class, that only means that each individual will get a smaller share of the amount.

If we really want to "stick it to them", we would have to opt out of the class and sue them on our own. Which you can do, if you have lots of money and time. It's depressing really. I buy lots of O organics products from Safeway. Those bastards.

Well, I feel better about my recent decision to switch grocery stores. I will be shopping at a place called Sprouts Farmer's Market. Hopefully they don't lie about organic labels.

 

[TCE]

If I understand correctly, becoming a part of the class lawsuit only means you will get a portion of an already decided amount of money. If more people sign up as part of the class, that only means that each individual will get a smaller share of the amount.

If we really want to "stick it to them", we would have to opt out of the class and sue them on our own. Which you can do, if you have lots of money and time. It's depressing really. I buy lots of O organics products from Safeway. Those bastards.

Well, I feel better about my recent decision to switch grocery stores. I will be shopping at a place called Sprouts Farmer's Market. Hopefully they don't lie about organic labels.

+Rep. Good for you. Unfortunately, in their cost-cutting and wheeling and dealing, Safeway basically sold their souls to the distributors they already had and allowed them to do whatever they wanted. In this case, it was Aurora Organics. Aurora realized that with Wal-Mart, Target, Safeway, etc on board, that there was no way they could produce that much organic milk, so they started cutting corners and doing some pretty unscrupulous things. Luckily, it was ferreted out. It's no coincidence that all of the major stores have Horizon Organics dairy. It is not only the cheapest, but it is also the most plentiful because it isn't legitimately organic.

 

[KerriAnn]

+Rep. Good for you. Unfortunately, in their cost-cutting and wheeling and dealing, Safeway basically sold their souls to the distributors they already had and allowed them to do whatever they wanted. In this case, it was Aurora Organics. Aurora realized that with Wal-Mart, Target, Safeway, etc on board, that there was no way they could produce that much organic milk, so they started cutting corners and doing some pretty unscrupulous things. Luckily, it was ferreted out. It's no coincidence that all of the major stores have Horizon Organics dairy. It is not only the cheapest, but it is also the most plentiful because it isn't legitimately organic.

Sounds typical. Horizon isn't cheap milk either... Cutting corners and still charging more! boo!!!

 

[TCE]

Sounds typical. Horizon isn't cheap milk either... Cutting corners and still charging more! boo!!!

It is for the stores themselves. They already have a relationship with the stores because Dean Foods owns them: http://www.deanfoods.com/brands/horizon-organic.aspx

 

[KerriAnn]

See, this is why I think I am voting no on CA's prop 37. allowing government control of GMO labeling will not solve our problems!

you think you're buying organic and then you find out half the shit you've been buying isn't organic at all! and you've been paying more for it! ugh!

a part of me wants to vote yes on 37 though, just so i can stick it to Monsanto. those buttholes.

just hours before the vote, and i still haven't decided.

 

[VoluntaryAmerican]

Organic milk? i thought the Feds made that illegal.

 

[tod evans]

The likelihood of buying "organic" anything especially milk from a chain store in a city is pretty slim.

Try talking to the farmer, one small farm will produce enough dairy products for an entire neighborhood.

If you're not skimming chunks of butter laden cream off the top of your milk I'd question it's authenticity.

 

[ClydeCoulter]

The likelihood of buying "organic" anything especially milk from a chain store in a city is pretty slim.

Try talking to the farmer, one small farm will produce enough dairy products for an entire neighborhood.

If you're not skimming chunks of butter laden cream off the top of your milk I'd question it's authenticity.

Yes, it's too bad that the gov has to involved in everything.
Milk from my cowshare has to be shaken before pouring (unless I scoup it out and make butter with it) or you get heavy cream off the top. So, I get cheese and butter and milk from the cowshares.
Can you get cowshares in CA?

edit: It is a bit more expensive, $6.00 per week for upkeep on each cowshare, but each cow share produces 1 gal. of milk.