Class Claims Bottled Water Is Not Natural Spring Water

Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA) has removed to federal court a putative class action alleging that the company failed to disclose that its Ice Mountain® 5-gallon bottles are not 100 percent natural spring water, “but are actually resold water sourced from municipal water systems.” The Chicago Faucet Shoppe, Inc. v. NWNA, Inc., No. 12-8119 (N.D. Ill., filed October 10, 2012). The named plaintiff, a company that contracted with NWNA in 2008 to deliver the water bottles to its Chicago office, filed the action on behalf of all purchasers in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Missouri under Illinois consumer fraud laws.

The removal notice claims that under the Class Action Fairness Act, diversity
of citizenship exists between putative class members and the defendant
and that the amount in controversy exceeds the $5 million jurisdictional
threshold. “According to NWNA’s records, since October 2009, more than
$5,000,000 of Ice Mountain® brand 5-gallon bottled water has been sold in
Illinois alone. Consequently, the total aggregated amount of the putative class
members’ claims for actual damages, punitive damages, and attorneys fees
exceeds $5,000,000.”