Spencer Sheehan (born 1978-1979) is an American attorney best known for filing

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

lawsuits against major food corporations in the name of

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

. He lives in

Great Neck Great Neck is a region contained within Nassau County, New York, on Long Island, which covers a peninsula on the North Shore and includes nine incorporated villages, among them Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kings Poin ...

, New York. Sheehan's lawsuits generally accuse companies of having misleading packaging. In 2023, he had filed over 500 such legal challenges. In 2021,

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

attributed him with "almost single-handedly caused a historic spike in the number of class action lawsuits against food and beverage companies." These have included lawsuits against the maker of

Pop-Tarts Pop-Tarts (stylized as pop•tarts) is an American brand of toaster pastries (not tarts) produced and distributed by Kellanova (formerly Kellogg's) since 1964. The pastry consists of a sweet filling sealed inside two layers of thin, rectang ...

, alleging that their 'Strawberry' flavor was deceptively labeled, and over 120 lawsuits specifically focused on 'vanilla' products that contain minimal actual

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

. Sheehan was born on and grew up in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, New York. His parents worked as a speech therapist and a carpenter. He attended

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

as an undergraduate, studying history, earned a master's degree in international relations from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, and a JD from the

Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. According to Fordham University School of Law's ABA- ...

. Sheehan opened his own law practice in 2013. In 2015, Sheehan represented

Bernhard Goetz On December 22, 1984, Bernhard Goetz () shot four youths on a New York City Subway train in Manhattan after they allegedly tried to rob him. All four victims survived, though one, Darrell Cabey, was paralyzed and suffered brain damage as a res ...

in an eviction case. He began filing large numbers of class action lawsuits in 2017. Some judges have criticized Sheehan for filing excessive cases.

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