Cookie Suit Alleges Unclean Conditions

A civic suit seeking thousands of dollars in punitive damages was filed Tuesday by the Los Angeles County district attorney against a Woodland Hills woman who has been selling her popular home-baked cookies for more than a decade.

The suit accuses Jeanne Kravitz of baking cookies in unsanitary conditions, including in the garage, laden with rat feces, of her Valley Circle Boulevard home. She is also accused of numerous unfair and illegal business practices.

The cookies have been distributed for years throughout the San Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles, including at 7-Eleven stores and Gelson’s markets, said Deputy Dist. Atty. John Luder. Kravitz uses the business names Kookie Lady, Oh! Kay Kookies and Kay Kookie Ko.

The suit seeks a maximum penalty of $2,500 for each of 39 allegations of violations between 1986 and 1995. Luder said the penalty could be applied for every cookie baked illegally and for every day of violation during the period.

“The cookies have to number in the hundreds of thousands, and that’s just a guess, not even an estimate,” Luder said.

Luder said an anonymous tip led to an investigation in March 1994 by county health officials, who ordered Kravitz on several occasions to cease her operations. Luder said Kravitz was uncooperative and repeatedly ignored orders.

In addition to finding rat feces, he said, inspectors found ceiling insulation and other debris and contaminants in the garage, ingredients stored on the floor and near a toilet and improper product labeling.

He said, however, that last spring Kravitz paid more than $9,000 in back county and state licensing fees, then moved her baking operation in the summer to a commercial facility in Van Nuys.

Even so, authorities want to prohibit Kravitz from engaging in any food supply business. However, officials said a settlement could be reached if Kravitz agrees to follow sanitation standards.