Tillamook County Creamery Association is fighting two active lawsuits: an Oregon class action accusing the cooperative of deceptive advertising by presenting itself as a small-farm brand while sourcing most of its milk from an industrial mega-dairy, and a federal suit blaming its eastern Oregon cheese plant for helping contaminate groundwater with nitrates. The advertising case was revived by the Oregon Supreme Court in April 2025 and is heading back toward class certification in Multnomah County Circuit Court. The nitrate case cleared a motion to dismiss in June 2026 and is set for a three-week jury trial beginning May 3, 2027.
The Deceptive Advertising Class Action
The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed Bohr v. Tillamook County Creamery Association in Multnomah County Circuit Court in August 2019 on behalf of Oregon consumers.1Adweek. Tillamook’s Ads Slammed Big Food, Now a Lawsuit Says It Uses Industrial Farming The complaint calls the cooperative’s marketing “humane washing” and points to campaigns like the 2016 tagline “Goodbye big food, hello real food” alongside ad imagery of cows grazing on green coastal hills.2Animal Legal Defense Fund. Lawsuit Against Tillamook for Deceptive Advertising Allowed to Proceed
According to the lawsuit, up to 80 percent of Tillamook’s milk actually comes from Columbia River Dairy, owned by Threemile Canyon Farms near Boardman in eastern Oregon.3Animal Legal Defense Fund. Challenging Tillamook’s Deceptive Advertising That operation sits on 93,000 acres, houses over 28,000 dairy cows, and is the largest dairy in Oregon.4KLCC. Oregon Supreme Court Considers Misleading Marketing Case Against Tillamook Creamery Columbia River Dairy has supplied roughly two-thirds of Tillamook’s milk since 2001, the year Tillamook opened its cheese plant nearby at the Port of Morrow.5Columbia Insight. Cheese in the Desert: Mega-Dairies The complaint describes the facility as a “complex of cement-floored production facilities and barren dirt feedlots” where cows are continuously confined and milked by robotic carousels.
Tillamook’s own website acknowledges that it sources from “many farms of many different sizes,” including contract suppliers, and that “a large dairy farm may not look the same as a much smaller one.”6Tillamook. On the Farm FAQ
How the Case Has Moved Through the Courts
Multnomah County Circuit Court initially dismissed the class claims, holding that each consumer had to prove personal reliance on Tillamook’s advertising. The Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed in 2022, concluding the plaintiffs’ theories, including price inflation, all required individual proof of reliance.7Findlaw. Bohr v. Tillamook County Creamery Association, SC S069773
The Oregon Supreme Court reversed in April 2025. It held that whether reliance is required under Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act depends on the alleged practice and the type of loss claimed. Because the plaintiffs argue Tillamook’s marketing inflated prices across the board, meaning every purchaser paid a premium regardless of what any specific ad they saw, dismissal at the pleading stage was premature.7Findlaw. Bohr v. Tillamook County Creamery Association, SC S069773 The decision built on the court’s 2023 ruling in Clark v. Eddie Bauer LLC, which allowed consumers to show a financial loss by proving they would not have paid the price charged absent the seller’s misrepresentation.8Justia. Clark v. Eddie Bauer LLC, 371 Or 177 Plaintiffs’ attorney Nadia Dahab called the ruling a “big win for consumers.”9OPB. Oregon Supreme Court Tillamook Lawsuit Case Moves Forward
On remand, the Oregon Court of Appeals issued a new decision on April 1, 2026, reviving most of the class claims but narrowing them. Plaintiffs may proceed on a price-inflation theory under two provisions of the UTPA: deceptive representations of geographic origin, and misrepresentation of a product’s qualities, characteristics, or ingredients. The court rejected the claim about product “source,” holding that “source” under the statute refers to the supplier or brand, not the geographic origin of ingredients.10Findlaw. Bohr v. Tillamook County Creamery Association, A175575
The case is now back in Multnomah County Circuit Court for pretrial proceedings, including class certification. The proposed class covers Oregon consumers who bought Tillamook dairy products between August 19, 2018, and the eventual date of certification.11The Oregonian. Appeals Court Revives Class Action in Greenwashing Case Against Tillamook Creamery No trial date has been set.
What Tillamook Says
Tillamook has called the lawsuit an “unmerited attack” and says it never hid its relationship with Columbia River Dairy.9OPB. Oregon Supreme Court Tillamook Lawsuit Case Moves Forward Corporate communications director Tori Harms said the cooperative “adamantly disagrees with the allegations” and that “the size of the farm does not dictate the quality of care.”12Statesman Journal. Class-Action Lawsuit Against Tillamook Alleges Misleading Advertising The company has also characterized the Animal Legal Defense Fund as an anti-dairy advocacy organization.13The Oregonian. Tillamook Ice Cream, Cheese Come Mostly From Cows Kept in Concrete and Dirt Feedlots, Not Green Pastures, Lawsuit Says
The Nitrate Contamination Lawsuit
On December 5, 2025, four Morrow County residents filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Oregon against Columbia River Processing, Tillamook’s cheese-making subsidiary in Boardman, along with Portland General Electric and several other entities. The complaint alleges that nitrate-laced industrial wastewater from these operations has poisoned local groundwater.14Oregon Capital Chronicle. Lawsuit Accuses PGE, Tillamook Creamery of Fueling Nitrate Pollution in Eastern Oregon
According to the complaint, Columbia River Processing generates roughly 360 million gallons of wastewater a year with an average nitrate concentration of 24 milligrams per liter, above the EPA’s 10 mg/L drinking water threshold. PGE’s Coyote Springs power plant is said to produce another 900 million gallons at nearly 39 mg/L. Both companies allegedly send this wastewater to the Port of Morrow, which sprays it onto farmland in Morrow and Umatilla counties without removing the nitrates, allowing them to reach groundwater.15The Oregonian. Lawsuit Says PGE, Tillamook Creamery Add to Nitrate Pollution in Eastern Oregon
The Lower Umatilla Basin has been designated a groundwater management area by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality since 1990, when regulators first found nitrate levels above safe thresholds.16Oregon DEQ. Nitrate Contamination DEQ reported in January 2025 that median nitrate concentration in its 33-well testing network rose from 4.6 mg/L in 1990 to 6.6 mg/L by 2023, with some wells reaching 75.5 mg/L. About 40 percent of monitored wells exceed the federal safety limit.17OPB. Oregon’s Nitrate Ground Pollution Became Notably Worse in Past 10 Years, Report Finds High nitrate levels in drinking water are linked to methemoglobinemia (blue baby syndrome), colorectal cancer, thyroid disease, and neural tube defects.18Good Stuff NW. Threemile Canyon Farms
Where the Case Stands
On June 5, 2026, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss in a 30-page ruling. Simon allowed plaintiffs to proceed with claims under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act along with Oregon state law claims for negligence, trespass, nuisance, and civil conspiracy. He also let their request for a medical monitoring remedy go forward.19OPB. Federal Judge Clears Path for Eastern Oregon Nitrate Pollution Lawsuit
The plaintiffs are seeking class certification for well-water owners and municipal water customers. They want the court to order the defendants to pay for drilling deeper wells, estimated at $40,000 per household, to connect residents to municipal water systems, and to establish medical monitoring for those who have been drinking contaminated water.20Hagens Berman. Judge Denies Motions to Dismiss Groundwater Contamination Lawsuit A three-week jury trial is scheduled to begin May 3, 2027.21East Oregonian. Eastern Oregon Groundwater Contamination Lawsuit Moves Forward
Why Both Cases Point at the Same Question
The two lawsuits share a premise: that Tillamook has grown into something at odds with the image it sells. The cooperative reports more than $1.2 billion in annual sales, products in roughly one in four American households, and is described as the fastest-growing cheese, ice cream, and cream cheese brand in the country, with sales up nearly 250 percent over the past decade. It employs over 1,100 people and runs factories in Tillamook and Boardman, Oregon, plus a new ice cream plant in Decatur, Illinois, that opened in early 2025.22Capital Press. The Big Cheese: How Tillamook Grew to Help Its Farmer-Owners
The advertising suit asks a jury to decide whether the marketing that fueled that growth misrepresents the sourcing behind it. The contamination suit asks whether the eastern Oregon operations enabling that growth have harmed the groundwater their neighbors drink. Both are heading toward trial.