KIMBERLY BRINK and MELVYN KLEIN v. ETAHN BROWN, SETH GOLDMAN, GREGORY BOHLEN, DIANE CARHART, RAYMOND J. LANE, BERNHARD VAN LENGERICH, NED SEGAL, CHRISTOPHER ISAAC STONE, DONALD THOMPSON, KATHY N. WALLER, and MARK J. NELSON, and BEYOND MEAT, INC.
Investors in the plant-based protein company have filed suit against several of the company’s executives, claiming that they downplayed the company’s potential liability in a legal dispute with one of the company’s former suppliers, Don Lee Farms. Don Lee sued Beyond Meat in 2017, claiming that the plant-based company breached its contract and stole trade secrets. Two years later, Don Lee added claims that the company had altered a food safety consultant’s report and provided contaminated ingredients. Following the launch of Beyond Meat’s IPO, the investor suit claims, the company made misleading statements regarding its liability to Don Lee and the potential impact of Don Lee’s lawsuit in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This is at least the third such suit filed against the company this year. [To accompany Federal Case Law Update "Beyond Meat Faces Another Investor Lawsuit" from Brooks Animal Law Digest Issue No. 22.]