Pizza Foe’s Lawyer Tried to Extort $675,000 From 2 Pie Makers, Suit Says

Two pizza companies accused of selling “poisonous” frozen pies have sued the lawyer representing an East County mom critical of an additive—asking a judge to order sanctions and fines totaling $200,000.

Attorney Gregory Weston and his San Diego-based law firm tried to extort as much as $675,000 from California Pizza Kitchen Inc. and Nestlé USA Inc., according to a May 6 filing in downtown federal court.

“Prior to filing the baseless lawsuit, Weston tried to use the threat of a nationwide consumer class action to extract a settlement,” said the countersuit by attorneys Dale Giali and Andrew Edelstein of Los Angeles and Carmine Zarlenga of Washington, D.C.

“Then, once he filed the action, Weston immediately availed himself of numerous media outlets to publicize his suit—complete with ‘poison pizza’ and ‘banned’ statements to national and local media and over the Internet, and using a website (poisonpizza.com) that he had registered more than six weeks before he filed suit.”

When lawyers for the pizza makers asked Weston to halt what they called his improper statements the media, “Weston made clear that the only way that would happen was if there was a monetary settlement,” the pizza attorneys said.

Weston appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America on Jan. 30 and San Diego station KFMB-TV’s 11 p.m. news program Feb. 5, the countersuit noted.

Nestlé, CPK and their products also were disparaged on the poisonpizza.com website, which at first didn’t mention that it had been created by The Weston Firm, the countersuit said.

Among other things, the website says: “Nestlé saves pennies by using trans fat, and their customers get fatal coronary heart disease,” “Nestlé puts poisonous trans fat in its frozen pizzas” and “Nestlé continues to put profits over the health of their customers.”

The pizza lawyers, citing case law over “frivolous” lawsuits, said filing a baseless complaint for media attention and publicity is an improper purpose sanctionable under legal procedures. 

“This is particularly so when the ultimate motivation is a corporate shakedown to extort a settlement,” the countersuit said.

The motion asks federal Judge Janis Sammartino for a hearing at 1:30 p.m. July 11 to rule on the countersuit and order Weston and his firm to pay $150,000 as punishment and $50,000 reimbursement “for the reasonable fees incurred on this motion.”

Email and voice mail requests for comment were not immediately answered by Weston or his law firm Thursday.

The pizza lawyers said the purported basis for the Simpson lawsuit is ridding the U.S. food supply of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, “a food additive that is entirely lawful, generally recognized as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), and that is present in small amounts.”

But the pizza lawyers said that if Weston could base a complaint—and seek a ban and restitution—on reports about the unhealthful affects of a food additive, “there would be no limit to such suits.”

The original pizza suit cited four products that never existed, the pizza lawyers said, and that led Weston to amend his complaint.

“Weston has abused the legal system and is causing a drain on the resources of the judiciary, Nestlé and CPK,” said the pizza lawyers. “He then exploited his baseless filings to defame and harass Nestlé and CPK in the media, all and only for his own pecuniary gain.”

In addition, Weston’s assertion of “inflammation and damage to vital organs” does not come close to satisfying “a plaintiff’s obligation to provide the grounds of his entitlement to relief,” which requires more than labels and conclusions, the pizza lawyers said.

“Here there are no allegations of how Simpson knows she has suffered inflammation or damage, or to which vital organs, or the effect thereof, if any.”

In late January, Patch reported that Simpson bought frozen pizzas about five times in the past year, including a California Pizza Kitchen Personal Pizza Barbeque Chicken and the same maker’s Crispy Thin Crust Pizza Signature Pepperoni.

But when she learned they contained trans fat—an ingredient linked to heart disease, diabetes and cancer—she felt as if she were sold poison and launched a $5 million federal class-action lawsuit.

The suit was filed in San Diego federal court on behalf of Simpson, a mother of two young children. Her address isn’t given, but KFMB called her an East County resident.

“The most frequent of Ms. Simpson’s purchases of Nestle Trans Fat Pizzas were at the Target located at 2911 Jamacha Road” near Cuyamaca College in Rancho San Diego, said the suit.

California has banned trans fat in foods served in local restaurants,but no bans on trans fat exist for packaged foods. The cities of New York and Philadelphia are among local governments that have enacted bans against trans fat in restaurant food.

Weston said the suit seeks all monies Nestle has ever made from frozen pizzas.

According to California Pizza Kitchen, the case applies only to frozen pizzas, not to restaurants bearing that name.

No trial date has been set in the case.