California Courts Grant Certification to Mike & Ike Buyers, Deny Veggie Burger Purchasers

A California federal court has granted certification to a class of Mike & Ike purchasers in a lawsuit alleging that the candy boxes contain too much non-functional slack-fill. Escobar v. Just Born Inc., No. 17-1826 (C.D. Cal., W. Div., entered March 25, 2019). The plaintiff had alleged that the box of Mike & Ike candies she purchased at a movie theater contained 46 percent slack fill.

Meanwhile, another California federal court denied certification to a class of consumers who purchased Gardenburger vegetarian hamburgers, finding that the damages theory proposed by the plaintiff was insufficient to calculate the amount of damages. Mohamed v. Kellogg Co., No. 14-2449 (S.D. Cal., entered March 23, 2019). The approach suggested by the plaintiff would have calculated “the percentage of the price premium” but did not include a calculation to arrive at the total amount of damages. “Plaintiff has not proposed to conduct a hedonic regression or any other type of analysis to calculate the price premium, which would account for the supply and market factors that influence price,” the court held, denying the motion for class certification without prejudice.