Lanny Davis, an outside attorney representing Whole Foods, said in order for the company to defend itself against the lawsuits, it needs to obtain sensitive information from its competitors in each of the jurisdictions. Whole Foods needs to prove that it is competing against other grocers for customers in each of those areas.

Whole Foods is seeking to avoid a situation like the one that developed in the Portland, Ore. area last fall, Davis said. When Whole Foods sought to obtain the information from its competitors in that area for its antitrust case, one of those grocers, New Seasons Markets, accused Whole Foods of trying to steal trade secrets. The accusations led to significant media coverage in the Portland area.

"Our stores there suffered because people had the misinterpretation that we were doing this voluntarily to steal trade secrets," said Davis.

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