Subway tuna lawsuit is being dismissed

An Air Canada Express pilot orders lunch at a Subway fast food restaurant at Vancouver International Airport, in Richmond, B.C., on Friday, May 19, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

A high-profile lawsuit by a California woman who claimed that Subway's tuna products contain ingredients other than tuna is being dismissed.

The chain, with nearly 37,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries, and the plaintiff Nilima Amin have "come to agreement regarding dismissing the case with prejudice," according to a Thursday docket entry in the Oakland, California federal court.

U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar, who oversees the case, will rule later on Subway's request that Amin's lawyers be sanctioned for bringing a frivolous class action, the docket entry shows.

Lawyers for Amin did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Subway had no immediate comment.

Amin claimed to have ordered Subway tuna products more than 100 times before suing in January 2021, claiming that its tuna sandwiches, salads and wraps included other fish species, chicken, pork and cattle, or no tuna at all.

In May she asked to end the lawsuit because she had become pregnant, and was experiencing "severe" morning sickness and "debilitating" conditions that left her unable to remain a plaintiff.

That prompted Subway to demand sanctions, saying Amin's proposed exit reflected her lawyers' realization it would not pay a "windfall settlement" in their "high-profile shakedown."

Subway also said the media frenzy from the lawsuit had caused severe harm, and faulted Amin's "ever-changing" theories to debunk its claim that its tuna products were "100% tuna."

In opposing sanctions, Amin's lawyers said she had a "good faith, non-frivolous basis based on testing and evidence that there was something amiss" with Subway tuna.

Last July, Tigar let the case continue but rejected Amin's claim that tuna was the only acceptable ingredient, calling it a "fact of life" that ingredients such as mayonnaise were okay.

The case is Amin v Subway Restaurants Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 21-00498.

(Editing by Jamie Freed)