Court Dismisses Deceptive Marketing Claims Against Margarine Maker

A federal court in California has dismissed as preempted certain claims filed
by a putative class alleging that Unilever deceptively markets “I Can’t Believe
It’s Not Butter! Spray.” Pardini v. Unilever U.S., Inc., No. 13-1675 (N.D. Cal., order entered July 9, 2013). The dismissal was without prejudice,
and the plaintiff has 30 days to amend her complaint. Other claims were also
dismissed without prejudice because they were not sufficiently pleaded or
because the plaintiff lacked standing to assert a claim under the consumer
protection laws of the other states named in the complaint. A claim for unjust
enrichment was dismissed with prejudice.

The plaintiff claims that the product is deceptively marketed as having “0 fat”
and “0 calories” when it actually contains 771 calories and 82 grams of fat per
bottle. While the product label specifies that the no-fat and no-calories claim
is per serving, and users are referred to the nutrition label for serving size, the
plaintiff alleges that the defendant has “set an artificially small serving size so
that the calories and fat per serving can be rounded down to zero” and that
the listed serving sizes fail to account for the manner in which the product is
customarily used. She seeks to represent a nationwide class of purchasers.
The court determined that the plaintiff’s serving size claim is preempted
by federal law, but indicated that in amending the complaint, the plaintiff
must allege specific facts showing why the product is not a spray and should
identify the appropriate serving size for the product, “as well as the fat and
calorie content associated with that serving size.”

Not preempted was the plaintiff’s “asterisk” claim, which alleged that because
the product packaging “makes a ‘zero fat’ nutrient content claim, the nutrition
label must include an asterisk next to ‘soybean oil’ and ‘buttermilk’ and a
notation indicating that these ingredients contain some amount of fat.”
The court rejected the defendant’s claim that the label statement “Contains
0 g fat” is a “voluntary disclosure that explains the basis for the ‘0 g trans fat’
claim,” finding that “this argument is inconsistent with the FDCA [Food, Drug,
and Cosmetic Act] and its implementing regulations.”

The court also rejected the defendant’s argument that the claims should be
dismissed “because they are based on alleged violations of the FDCA and
because there is no private right of action under the statute.” According to
the court, the claims fall within the category of “state law claims alleging that
non-compliance with the FDCA regulations deceived and harmed consumers,
i.e., claims that would exist in the absence of the FDCA.” As such, and “[a]bsent
an FDCA violation, these allegations could potentially support a claim for
violation” of state laws.