New York Federal Court Dismisses Proposed Class Action Against Whole Foods

A New York federal court has dismissed a putative class action alleging
Whole Foods Market Group overcharged its customers for some prepackaged
foods, finding that the plaintiffs failed to specify any particular
transactions in which the grocer overcharged them. In re Whole Foods
Mkt. Grp., Inc. Overcharging Litig., No. 15-5838 (S.D.N.Y., order
entered March 1, 2016). The complaint was filed after the New York City
Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) announced the results of its
investigation into “systemic overcharging” at Whole Foods stores across
the city.

The plaintiffs alleged that they “regularly purchased”—“one or two times
per month”—pre-packaged products from Whole Foods that the DCA
identified in its press release, including cheese, cupcakes and chicken
fingers. The court took issue with the plaintiffs’ reliance on the DCA press
release, finding that its “statements fall very far short of reporting an
investigative finding of ubiquitous, systematic over-weighting at Whole
Foods’ New York City stores. Rather, the Press Release’s self-described
‘snapshot’ [], fairly read, reports multiple but not invariable incidents of
this deceptive labeling practice. It does not provide any basis on which
to infer across-the-board overcharging so as to embrace, other than by
conjecture, the cheese and cupcakes, or the chicken fingers, that [the
plaintiffs] occasionally bought in 2014 and 2015.” The court found the
plaintiffs did not have standing to sue based on their allegations and
dismissed the case with prejudice.

Issue 596