“Heart-Check Mark” StarKist Lawsuit to Continue

A lawsuit alleging that StarKist misleads consumers by paying to feature the American Heart Association’s (AHA’s) Heart-Check Mark will continue after a New York federal court refused to dismiss the complaint. Warner v. StarKist Co., No. 18-0406 (N.D.N.Y., entered March 25, 2019). The court refused to dismiss the plaintiff’s allegation that the Heart-Check Mark materially misleads consumers—finding “StarKist’s failure to argue that the omission of language indicating it paid to place the Heart Check-Mark on its products would not mislead a reasonable consumer”—but noted that “this is a close call, which could be revisited at the summary judgment stage.” The court dismissed the plaintiff’s request for an injunction because it found “no ‘real and immediate’ threat of future injury” because the plaintiff’s “own allegations indicate that he will not purchase or pay as much for the product going forward.”