You have a right to know about a Settlement in this class action lawsuit, and about your options. This new Settlement replaces the previous settlement that was appealed and reversed by the Ninth Circuit. The Court granted Final Approval of the Settlement on September 18, 2023. In November 2023, payments began issuing to Settlement Class Members who filed timely and valid claims.

The Court in charge of this case is the United States District Court for Central District of California (the “Court”), and the case is called In re ConAgra Foods, Inc, Case No. CV 11-05379-CJC (AGRx), MDL No. 2291. This case is assigned to United States District Judge Cormac J. Carney. The individuals who sued are called the Class Representatives, and the company they sued, Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods, Inc.) (“Conagra”), is called the Defendant.

The lawsuit alleges that Conagra violated certain laws in the marketing, advertising, and sale of Wesson Oil Products made from Genetically Modified Ingredients (“GMOs”) as “Natural.”

The Defendant denies any and all wrongdoing of any kind whatsoever and has asserted various defenses that it believes are meritorious.

In a class action, one or more people called class representatives (in this case Robert Briseño and Michele Andrade for the California Class; Jill Crouch for the Colorado Class; Julie Palmer for the Florida Class; Pauline Michael for the Illinois Class; Cheri Shafstall for the Indiana Class; Dee Hooper-Kercheval for the Nebraska Class; Kelly McFadden and Necla Musat for the New York Class; Maureen Towey for the Ohio Class; Erika Heins for the Oregon Class; Rona Johnston for the South Dakota Class; and Anita Willman for the Texas Class), sue on behalf of people who have similar claims. All these people are a class or class members. Bringing a case, such as this one, as a class action allows adjudication of many similar claims of persons and entities that might be economically too small to bring in individual actions. One court resolves the issues for all class members, except for those who excluded themselves (opted out) from the class.

The Defendant denies that it did anything wrong. Both sides want to avoid the cost of further litigation. The Court has not decided in favor of the Class Representatives or the Defendant. The Class Representatives and their attorneys think the Settlement is best for the Classes.

The Classes consist of all natural persons who resided in one of the following eleven States and purchased Wesson Oil Products in that State, for their own personal, non-commercial use during the following time periods:

Excluded from the Classes are: (a) governmental entities; (b) Conagra, and its affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, current and former officers, directors, agents, and representatives; (c) the members of the Court and its staff; and (d) opt outs.

If you did not reside in any of these eleven States during these time periods or did not purchase Wesson Oil Products in these states during the applicable Class Period, then you are not a Class Member and are not affected by this Action or this Settlement.

“Wesson Oil Products” means Wesson brand cooking oils, including Wesson Vegetable Oil, Wesson Canola Oil, Wesson Corn Oil, and Wesson Best Blend, all of which were marketed, advertised, and sold as “Natural” during the applicable Class Periods.

If you are not sure whether you are a Class Member, or have any other questions about the Settlement, you may review the important court documents for this Settlement on the Important Documents page, or call the Settlement Administrator toll-free at 1-833-291-1651.

The Settlement provides monetary damages to all Class Members. Specifically, Conagra has agreed to pay $3,000,000 into a Settlement Fund to be used to pay Class Member payments, expenses, administrative costs, service awards to the Class Representatives, and any other costs and expenses related to the Settlement.  Class Counsel are not seeking to be paid their attorneys’ fees.

ALL CLASS MEMBERS

Class Members who submitted a timely, valid Claim Form received up to $0.15 per unit of Wesson Oil Products purchased during the applicable Class Period. Recovery was limited to one claim per Household, which is defined as all persons residing at the same physical address. Because the total value of all valid Claims Forms and amounts identified for direct distribution exceeded the funds available for distribution to Class Members (after deducting the portion of Settlement Funds designated for New York and Oregon Class Members), the amounts of the cash payments were reduced per Claim filed (or “pro rata”), as necessary, to use all of the remaining funds available for distribution to Class Members. The pro rata adjustment was calculated prior to distribution of funds (i.e., will be made in a single distribution).

NEW YORK AND OREGON CLASS MEMBERS

A portion of the Settlement Fund, specifically $575,000, was allocated only to members of the New York and Oregon Classes who submitted valid Claim Forms or were identified for direct distribution, in proportion to the number of units purchased. The amount of additional recovery for New York and Oregon Class Members was adjusted pro rata according to the number of valid Claim Forms and direct distributions.

If you filed a claim in the previous settlement, you did not need to do anything to receive a payment.  The deadline to file a claim passed on May 22, 2023.

If you did not submit a Valid Claim Form by May 22, 2023, you will not receive a payment, but you will be bound by the Court’s judgment in this Action. In November 2023, payments began issuing to Settlement Class Members who filed timely and valid claims.

The Court granted Final Approval of the Settlement on September 18, 2023. In November 2023, payments began issuing to Settlement Class Members who filed timely and valid claims.
 

Per the terms of the Settlement, all Class Members who timely submitted a valid Claim Form could receive up to $0.15 per unit of Wesson Oil Products purchased during the applicable Class Period. Recovery was limited to one claim per Household, which is defined as all persons residing at the same physical address. 

The total value of all valid Claims Forms and amounts identified for direct distribution exceeded the funds available for distribution to Class Members (after deducting the portion of Settlement Funds designated for New York and Oregon Class Members). As such, the amounts of the cash payments were reduced per Claim filed (or “pro rata”), as necessary, to use all of the remaining funds available for distribution to Class Members.
 

Per the terms of the Settlement, payments to Settlement Class Members who filed valid and timely claims were to be made in a single distribution. No additional payments are anticipated. 

If you are a Class Member, unless you opted out from the Settlement, you cannot sue the Defendant, continue to sue, or be part of any other lawsuit against the Defendant about the claims released in this Settlement. It also means that all the decisions by the Court will bind you. The Released Claims and Released Parties are defined in the Settlement Agreement and describe the legal claims that you give up if you stay in the Settlement. The Released Claims will not include any claim against the Released Parties for bodily injury allegedly suffered in connection with the purchase or use of the Wesson Oil Products. The Settlement Agreement is available here.

Beginning in October 2023, individuals that filed timely and valid claims deemed eligible for payment were sent a virtual prepaid card notification via email. Settlement payments for timely and valid claims will be issued in November 2023, via virtual prepaid card to the email address provided on your Claim Form.

If you received a prepaid card email and would like to verify that your Settlement payment was issued by prepaid card, please email the Settlement Administrator. You may also contact the prepaid card servicer at www.myprepaidcenter.com.
 

Payments are already in progress and payment methods cannot be changed at this time. If you provided an email address on your Claim Form, a virtual prepaid card will be sent to the email address on file for you.

Your Settlement payment was issued via prepaid card using the email address you provided. Please make sure to check your spam and junk folders for the email with your prepaid card information. If you cannot locate or have questions regarding your prepaid card, please contact the prepaid card servicer at www.myprepaidcenter.com or 888-371-2109.

If you have questions regarding your prepaid card, please contact the prepaid card servicer at www.myprepaidcenter.com or 888-371-2109.

If you have questions regarding your prepaid card, please contact the prepaid card servicer at www.myprepaidcenter.com or 888-371-2109.

The deadline to opt out of the Settlement passed on March 22, 2023.

No. Unless you excluded yourself, you gave up any right to sue the Defendant for the claims that this Settlement resolves. If you properly excluded yourself from the Settlement, you will not be bound by any orders or judgments entered in the Action relating to the Settlement. The deadline to opt out of the Settlement passed on March 22, 2023.

No. You will not get any money from the Settlement if you excluded yourself. If you excluded yourself from the Settlement, you could not submit a Claim Form asking for benefits. The deadline to opt out of the Settlement passed on March 22, 2023.

Yes. The Court has appointed attorneys from the law firms DiCello Levitt LLC, Tadler Law LLP, and Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman LLP to represent you and the other Class Members. The lawyers are called Class Counsel. They are experienced in handling similar class action cases. You will not be charged for these lawyers. If you want to be represented by your own lawyer, you may hire one at your own expense.

Class Counsel are not seeking their attorneys’ fees; however, they filed a motion to be paid their expenses from litigating the case since 2011, and service awards of (a) up to $3,000 for each of the six Class Representatives whose depositions were taken by Conagra (Robert Briseño, Michele Andrade, Jill Crouch, Pauline Michael, Necla Musat, and Maureen Towey) and (b) up to $1,000 for each of the seven Class Representatives whose depositions were not taken (Julie Palmer, Cheri Shafstall, Dee Hooper-Kercheval, Kelly McFadden, Erika Heins, Rona Johnston, and Anita Willman). The Court determined the amount of expenses and service awards, which will be paid from the Settlement Fund.

The Court granted Final Approval of Plaintiffs' Motion for Final Approval of the New Proposed Settlement on September 18, 2023. The Court granted Final Approval of objector Henderson's Motion for Attorney fees, expense reimbursement, and an incentive award in the amount of $250,000 from Settlement Fund on September 18, 2023.

The deadline to object to the Settlement passed on March 22, 2023.

Objecting is simply telling the Court that you don’t like something about the Settlement.  Excluding yourself from the Settlement is telling the Court that you don’t want to be part of the Settlement. If you excluded yourself from the Settlement, you had no basis to object to the Settlement because it no longer affected you.

The deadline to object to the Settlement passed on March 22, 2023. The deadline to opt out of the Settlement passed on March 22, 2023.

The Court held a Fairness Hearing on April 17, 2023, at 1:30 p.m., Pacific, at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and United States Courthouse, 411 West Fourth Street, Courtroom 9B, Santa Ana, California 92701.

At the Fairness Hearing, the Court considered whether the Settlement was fair, reasonable, and adequate. The Court also considered how much to pay Class Counsel and the Class Representatives. If there were objections, the Court considered them at this time. After the hearing, the Court decided whether to approve the Settlement. The Court granted Final Approval of the Settlement on September 18, 2023.

The Fairness Hearing was held on April 17, 2023.

The Fairness Hearing was held on April 17, 2023.

If you did nothing, but filed a claim under the prior Settlement, you will get a payment under the new Settlement. If you did nothing, but you did not file a claim under the prior settlement, you will not get a payment from the new Settlement. Unless you excluded yourself, you won’t be able to start a lawsuit, continue with a lawsuit, or be part of any other lawsuit against the Defendant about the legal issues in this case, ever again.

The Notice summarizes the proposed Settlement. More details are in the Settlement Agreement. If you have additional questions, you may contact the Settlement Administrator:

By Mail: Wesson Oil Settlement, c/o JND Legal Administration, P.O. Box 11050, Seattle, WA 98111-9349

By Email: info@wessonoilsettlement.com

By Phone Toll-Free: 1-833-291-1651

Updates will be posted on this website as information about the Settlement process becomes available.

You may review the various case documents on the Important Documents page of this website; by visiting (during business hours) United States District Court for the Central District of California, 411 West 4th Street, Room 1053, Santa Ana, California 92701, File: In re ConAgra Foods, Inc, Case No. CV 11-05379-CJC (AGRx), or by accessing the case docket through the Court’s Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov.

PLEASE DO NOT TELEPHONE THE COURT OR THE COURT CLERK’S OFFICE TO INQUIRE ABOUT THE SETTLEMENT OR THE CLAIM PROCESS.