California authorities have sued 20 national restaurant chains for allegedly failing to warn patrons about high levels of mercury in some fish (including tuna steaks), an action the chains said they requested themselves, to avoid being sued by environmentalists.
The lawsuits, filed by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer on Thursday in Los Angeles and San Francisco Superior Courts, accuse the chains -including Landry's Restaurants, Inc.; Red Lobster Seafood Restaurants; Olive Garden Italian Restaurant; Outback Steakhouse; and P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Inc.- of knowingly selling swordfish, Ahi (Yellowfin) tuna, Albacore tuna and shark without posting warnings required by the state's Proposition 65 law.
The fish can contain high levels of mercury and methylmercury, known carcinogens or reproductive toxins, the lawsuit said. The lawsuits said the chains ignored warnings to post "reasonable and clear warnings about mercury exposure."
It also accuses the eateries of unfair competition, and asks a judge to fine the defendants $2,500 a day for each infraction and permanently bar them from selling the fish unless they post warning signs.
The other defendants in the lawsuit are: Brinker International, Inc. the parent company for Chili's and Romano's Macaroni Grill; Benihana, Inc.; Claim Jumper Restaurants; Hof Brea's Inc.; TS Restaurants, Inc.; the Cheesecake Factory Restaurants; Bennigans and its parent company Metromedia Restaurant Group; McCormick & Schmick Management Group; Morton's Restaurant Group; Ruth's Chris Steakhouse Inc; Porterhouse of Los Angeles; and Yard House Restaurants.
An Attorney General's Office spokesman said the lawsuit was "a logical extension" of a similar legal action filed earlier this year against Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's, Albertson's Inc. and Safeway. The grocery chains agreed to post mercury warnings at their fish counters as part of a proposed settlement agreement.
When the restaurant chains received notice 60 days ago that an environmental group wanted to sue them under Prop. 65, they decided to act first, Landry's lawyer Steven Scheinthal said. "We sat down and tried to agree on methodology and wording that restaurant industry can live with," Scheinthal said. "We all went to the Attorney General asking that they bring the lawsuit instead of the private individual. The reason the Attorney General is involved is because we wanted the Attorney General involved."
Passed by voters in 1986, Prop. 65 forbids businesses from exposing people "to a chemical known to ... cause cancer or reproductive toxicity without first giving clear and reasonable warning." The state developed a list of known toxins, which now includes 648 substances, according to the Prop. 65 Handbook.
Mercury was added to that list in 1990, and methylmercury compounds in 1996, said Attorney General's spokesman Tom Dresslar. He confirmed that Lockyer decided to sue the restaurants after being informed a private suit was pending if the government didn't act. "We did some testing and decided to bring the case," Dresslar said.
Officers at TS Restaurants, a privately owned chain of 12 seafood and steak restaurants in Hawaii and California, said they received notice that they were out of compliance with Prop. 65 just 30 days before the lawsuit was filed. "We never even knew that the statute applied to us," Ray Burnett, director of operation services, said. "Within a week of receiving that notice, we had all the appropriate signs posted. We had no intention of not complying."