Callahan & Blaine

Callahan & Blaine recently filed a class action lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court against some of California’s largest distributors and retailers of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

For years, chefs and home cooks have shared anecdotal tales of extra virgin olive oil that just did not taste right.  It has now become clear that these tales were based in fact.  A comprehensive study by the UC Davis Olive Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science at the University of California, Davis has proven that 69% of imported olive oil and 10% of California olive oil failed to meet the IOC/USDA standards for extra virgin olive oil.

The plaintiffs’ class includes famous chefs, well-known restaurants, and home cooking enthusiasts.  All of the plaintiffs are offended by the fraudulent actions taken by these defendants. The plaintiffs include: Chef David W. Martin, who is one of the most well recognized chef’s from Bravo TV’s “Top Chef Season One”; Michael D. Owings, a well recognized American restaurateur from Palm Springs, California who is Culinary Director of Dink’s Restaurant and Ultra Lounge Palm Springs, California; and Antonello’s Ristorante, one of the finest Italian restaurants in the country, located in the South Coast Plaza Village in Costa Mesa, California.

The plaintiffs’ class for this case is represented by attorney Daniel J. Callahan.  Mr. Callahan is best known for a $934 million verdict that involved public health and safety issues in which Callahan represented medical product manufacturer Beckman Coulter.

Stay tuned to the media and this blog for more information on this emerging case as it becomes available.

The case number is 30-2010-00395464-CU-FR-CXC, filed in Orange County Superior Court.