A U.S. federal judge has dismissed a class action lawsuit against Biloxi, Mississippi, U.S.A.-based seafood wholesaler and retailer Quality Poultry and Seafood (QPS) and Mary Mahoney’s Old French House – a Biloxi restaurant QPS supplied with seafood.
Todd McCain sued Mary Mahoney’s Old French House and QPS in August 2024, claiming he “purchased what defendants fraudulently marketed and represented as high-priced premium local snapper and red snapper,” but which was actually imported fish, at Mary Mahoney’s on three occasions.
In a separate case filed by the U.S. government, Mary Mahoney’s, the restaurant’s Co-Owner Anthony Cvitanovich, and QPS and its executives pled guilty to substituting imported fish that was marketed as local U.S. fish on its menus. Mary Mahoney’s and Cvitanovich received sentences in November 2024, while QPS and its executives received their sentences in December.
U.S. District Court Judge Louis Guirola, Jr., though, recently dismissed McCain’s lawsuit “without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction,” per WLOX.
McCain claimed that if he knew the fish was imported, he would not have purchased the meals, but past court cases found “buyer’s remorse, without more, is not a cognizable injury,” Guirola Jr. said.
“McCain paid for fish, which he may have sincerely believed to be local snapper or red snapper. However, he consumed the meal without complaint or concern. Apparently satisfied with the fare, he paid the bill, again without question or objection. It was not until some years later that he suspected that he may have been served and eaten something other than local snapper or red snapper,” he said.
Additionally, McCain did not have any health-related injuries from eating the fish.
“Instead, he alleges economic injury and seeks a full refund based on the assertion that he would not have bought the fish if he had known it was foreign as opposed to local snapper or red snapper,” Guirola Jr. said.
The dismissal comes a week after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned Biloxi, Mississippi, U.S.A.-based seafood wholesaler and retailer Quality Poultry and Seafood (QPS) from importing for five years.
The FDA said in a recent Federal Register notice that it was taking the action because QPS was convicted of a felony count for conduct related to importation.
