Dan retired from Mintz in 2026. He was a product liability defense attorney.

Can a Consumer Plausibly Allege Your Product Labeling is False or Misleading Under California Law?

December 12, 2024 | Blog | By Paige Adaskaveg, Daniel Herling, Arameh Zargham O'Boyle, Sebastian Navarro

The following decisions provide useful guidance for crafting product labeling that is resilient to legal challenges brought under California’s consumer protection laws.

March 14, 2023 | Blog | By Benjamin Zegarelli, Daniel Herling

The information age in which we live is reaching a new milestone with the development and ready access to conversational artificial intelligence based on advanced transformer algorithms, or AI chatbots, including their upcoming integration into multiple Internet search engines. This development creates exciting opportunities and potentially terrifying risks in the health care space. Inevitably, people will ask AI chatbot-enabled search engines for information on diseases, conditions, medicines, or medical devices and use the response in some way to make certain medical decisions. But what happens when the AI chatbot’s response is inaccurate or even provides advice that may lead to harm if the user follows it? Can AI chatbots be regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)? What are the liability implications if a user is harmed? We provide some initial thoughts on such legal issues in this post.

November 23, 2020 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

There’s a new class action trend consumer product companies need to be aware of that is not only causing additional stress when faced with a recall but also increased expense and adverse publicity.

April 8, 2020 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

The food industry has been upended by the recent COVID-19 pandemic – restaurants and bars are scrambling to adjust to a new way of life after governors across America issued statewide “stay at home” orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Restaurants are now only permitted to serve take-out or drive-thru orders, and some restaurants have transformed themselves into neighborhood markets, or bodegas, selling food items not labeled for retail.

April 7, 2020 | Blog | By Brian Dunphy, Daniel Herling, Alain Mathieu

Over the past several weeks, the Firm has received a number inquiries from clients (on both coasts) who are interested in manufacturing or selling test kits, respirators, masks, and other PPE in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with respect to potential liability risks associated with such activities.

October 11, 2019 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

The old joke of “what do Philosophy majors ask at their first job?” takes on a new meaning in the world of Prop 65. On October 7, 2019, the California Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit in Federal court for the Eastern District of California (Complaint) challenging Proposition 65 warnings for food that contain the chemical Acrylamide.

October 3, 2019 | Blog | By Daniel Herling, Margaret Jewett

In Fleetwood Mac’s magnum opus, “Landslide,” Stevie Nicks croons, “Well, I’ve been ‘fraid of changin’ ‘cause I’ve built my life around you.” The FTC’s recent workshop on Made in the USA claims reveals a similar hesitancy to evolve, although panel discussions may presage altered approaches to enforcement of these claims. This workshop, held on September 26, consisted mainly of three panel discussions on various aspects of this issue.

September 27, 2019 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

I suspect that we’ve all had this experience. You’ve finished a long day of work, had dinner, and have cozied up on the couch with a glass of wine to watch a re-run of your favorite TV show. The show goes to commercial and all of a sudden, plastered across your screen, there is an “important consumer alert” concerning the alleged dangers of a particular prescription drug and that “if you or a loved one have been injured” to contact this law firm.

September 4, 2018 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

As has been widely reported, in May 2018, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that Prop 65 warning labels are required to be placed on “ready-to-drink” coffee products. Acrylamide, a Prop 65 listed chemical that allegedly is a carcinogen, forms during the coffee roasting process.

August 20, 2018 | Blog | By Daniel Herling

One week after a San Francisco jury decided against Monsanto and awarded a plaintiff $289 million due to the alleged exposure that caused his cancer, the California Supreme Court refused to hear any further challenges by Monsanto.

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