It’s all in the can…
For some of us, a great tuna salad sandwich makes for a perfect snack, lunch or even dinner (if you’re up for that sort of thing). But if you’ve been paying attention to the news, the tuna industry has been taking all sorts of hits. And now with underfilled cans, old Charlie Tuna has been getting canned by consumers.
But alas, there’s hope. If you are a tuna lover, you can either get cash or cans. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, if you’ve purchased one of more cans of StarKist tuna between Feb. 19, 2009 and Oct. 31, 2014, you are entitled to either $25 cash or $50 in cold, hard tuna.
You see, California resident Patrick Hendricks took Charlie Tuna to court in a class action lawsuit when he sensed something fishy with their shortage of tuna in 5-ounce cans. StarKist agreed to the settlement “to stay focused on our core mission of providing healthy and delicious seafood to our consumers,” a company spokeswoman said when the settlement was announced in May. He alleged in the Northern District of California suit that testing showed cans were underfilled.
And you know they admitted no wrongdoing (despite Hendrick’s claim that testing showed underfilled cans), but a $12 million settlement fund was set up to include $8 million earmarked for cash payments and $4 million for tuna, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported at that time.
Of course, you may not have your receipt. Your claim may still be honored. But don’t lie to kick it. That would be perjury. And though this blog entry is about class action lawsuits (which Goins Law does), we’d hate to get that call to represent you as a defendant. So just go and check out the settlement website about claiming a refund.
I feel this case represents how the “little man” took on a big industry and came out the big fish. Many of you may have had that proverbial can of tuna and just thought you were getting played or never considered the weight. But Patrick Hendricks thought outside the box and got the law on his side. If you feel you are being played by any company, big or small, Goins Law has the expertise to look out for you. Whether it’s tuna or sharks, we got you.
