New Yorkers Sue Major Egg Seller

For Immediate Release:
March 8, 2022

Contact:
Robin Goist 202-483-7382

Longtime local residents Noah Tanz, Charles Sankowich, Burcu Karaca, and Kara Gozde are plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against Vital Farms Inc.—a case in which PETA Foundation lawyers and co-counsel just won a precedent-setting victory when a motion to dismiss the suit was rejected by the court. They and fellow consumers allege they were misled into buying the company’s eggs at a premium price because of its false claims that it treats hens ethically and humanely.

The lawsuit indicates that the New Yorkers regularly purchased the Texas-based company’s eggs because they believed that Vital Farms provided hens with “freedom from undue pain and distress.” They would not have agreed to the company’s high prices—which are up to seven times higher than the price of ordinary store-bought eggs—had they known “the truth about Vital’s practices.” A Texas federal court judge has now found that they and the other plaintiffs raised valid legal claims when alleging that Vital Farms knowingly makes deceptive assertions about hens’ humane treatment.

Despite its claims, the company does the following:

• Obtains hens from hatcheries that kill all male chicks at birth and burn or cut off portions of hens’ highly sensitive beaks to prevent fighting among stressed, severely crowded, confined birds
• Claims that birds are in “pastures” when many spend most or all of their time indoors
• Sends birds to slaughterhouses when they become less profitable

“These New Yorkers were deliberately misled into believing that Vital Farms treats animals with respect, when it sends them to slaughter and purchases from hatcheries that grind chicks up alive,” says PETA Foundation Director of Litigation Asher Smith. “PETA is working to ensure that this case puts a stop to and punishes dishonest marketing tactics that betray kind consumers.”

The nine plaintiffs—including individuals from Los Angeles and Marina del Rey, California; Cooper City, Florida; Warren, Michigan; and Crosby, Texas—are also represented by Richard L. Stone of Blackner Stone & Associates and Jesse Weiss of Edmundson Shelton Weiss PLLC.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.