Lawyer Behind U.S. Food Labeling Cases Hit With Fraud Ruling

An attorney known for filing hundreds of food and beverage labeling lawsuits was sanctioned this week by a federal judge in Florida who said the lawyer "engaged in a concerted effort to defraud this court and likely many, many others," David Thomas reported for Reuters.

Big Lots was accused by Sheehan and his client of selling coffee with a misleading label. I Photo: Harrison Keely Wikimedia Commons

Spencer Sheehan must pay a still-to-be-determined amount to cover attorney fees and costs incurred by retailer Big Lots, whom Sheehan and his client accused of selling coffee with a misleading label, US District Judge Gregory Presnell ruled Wednesday.

Sheehan and his co-counsel, William Wright of West Palm Beach, Florida, sued Big Lots in September, alleging the retailer's dark coffee tins did not contain 210 servings of coffee as suggested on the label, only 152 servings.

Other judges have previously threatened Sheehan with sanctions after finding his lawsuits were frivolous, not viable, or filed in bad faith, including in cases against Walmart and Starbucks.

Sheehan has previously defended his lawsuits as reasonable and said in a court filing last year that he had never been formally sanctioned. He disclosed in a separate court filing last year that he filed more than 500 lawsuits between January 2020 and April 2023.