Christopher Van Gundy is a Partner in the Firm’s San Francisco office and is a member of the Litigation, FDA Regulatory Compliance, Chemical Law & Prop 65, and Products Liability Law Groups. He pursues a dual practice of representing consumer product companies in litigation, purported class actions and California Proposition 65 cases typically involving human and pet food, dietary supplements, agricultural products, cosmetics, e-vapor, medical device, apparel, and other consumer products, as well as advising as to FDA/FTC/USDA regulatory compliance, substantiation, labeling claims, and product recalls. Selected matters handled by Mr. Van Gundy include false advertising litigation, organic claims, food-borne illness outbreaks, FSMA/HARPC, HACCP, PFAS and UPF claims, labeling reviews for FDA and USDA regulated companies, litigation and regulation involving heavy metals, food safety audits, Noncompliance Reports, and state consumer protection laws.
For several years, Mr. Van Gundy has been USA Chambers rated for Food & Beverages: Regulatory and Litigation for clients in a wide variety of product categories – olive and other oils, fruit juice and purees, berries, infant formula, energy bars, seafood, health products, bread, cheese, alcoholic beverages, snack products, spices, vinegar, cannabis, and seaweed, to name a few. Previously, Mr. Van Gundy was the head of litigation for an affiliated group of food companies involving marquee brands of juice, bottled water, tree nuts and citrus.
As both in-house and outside counsel, Mr. Van Gundy has enjoyed extensive first chair case and trial responsibility in a wide variety of disputes under California and New York law involving class actions, unfair competition, unfair business practices, insurance, product liability, antitrust, trademark, state consumer false advertising, federal Lanham Act claims, food broker and grower disputes, pesticide regulation, federal marketing orders, real estate, environmental law, and supply chain disputes in federal, state, and foreign courts and arbitral tribunals. Mr. Van Gundy is one of the few lawyers to try false advertising food cases to a jury, which he uses to gain litigation strategy insights and settlement leverage for his clients. By leveraging his dual practice, Mr. Van Gundy is able to achieve optimal outcomes for his client by mitigating litigation risk or obtaining favorable results in litigation.
