Just Born Faces Second Class Action over Movie Box Candy Slack-Fill Allegations
Just Born, Inc. is facing a putative class action alleging its boxes of candy are underfilled by 35 percent. Escobar v. Just Born, Inc., No. 17-1826 (C.D. Cal., removed to federal court March 17, 2017). The plaintiff allegedly bought a box of the company’s Mike and Ike candy at a movie theater and claims Just Born is “falsely and deceptively misrepresenting” the amount of product contained in movie boxes of Mike and Ike and Hot Tamales candies it sells at movie theaters and retail outlets nationwide.
The plaintiff claims that because she bought the product at a movie theater, where it was stored in a glass showcase, she paid for the product before she took possession of it and had no opportunity to inspect the packaging for “other representations of quantity of candy product contained therein other than the size of the box itself.” The plaintiff also relies on a Consumer Reports article claiming “75 to 80 percent of consumers don’t even bother to look at any label information” and are likely to choose a large box believing it to be a good value.
For violations of California’s consumer-protection statutes, the plaintiff seeks class certification, injunctive relief, restitution and damages, an order requiring Just Born to “disclose its misrepresentations,” and attorney’s fees.
Issue 628
