Private enforcement of government regulations can serve a useful function. Unleashing an army of “private attorneys general,” especially in an environment of scarce public resources, can promote deterrence and better secure compliance with the law. But that rosy view of such lawsuits can be diminished when they are wielded by business competitors as one of many tools of competition. It is further eroded when those private lawsuits invade a subject-matter area that is already carefully regulated by the government.
These theoretical concerns will undergird the U.S. Supreme Court’s consideration in April whether a private litigant can sue a company for violating federal restrictions on labeling food and beverage products. The lawsuit on appeal was filed by POM Wonderful LLC against its competitor, Coca-Cola Co. POM sells various fruit juice products, including pomegranate juice and pomegranate-blueberry juice. It competes in the beverage market with juice products sold by Coca-Cola’s Minute Maid business unit.
