Rebate Moots “All Natural” Putative Class Action
A Massachusetts federal court has dismissed a lawsuit alleging ACH Food
Companies Inc. mislabeled its Weber® barbecue sauce as “All Natural”
despite containing caramel coloring, finding that a $75 rebate rendered
the case moot. Demmler v. ACH Food Cos. Inc., No. 15-13556 (D. Mass.,
order entered June 9, 2016). Details about the complaint appear in Issue
582 of this Update.
The court found ACH had tendered full relief to the plaintiff by sending
him treble statutory damages. Further, “the $75 check did not represent
a settlement offer—ACH sent the check unprompted, and did not impose
any preconditions on [the plaintiff] for doing so. This distinction makes
all the difference,” the court held. The plaintiff could not pursue damages
when he had already been made whole, the court noted, and his “refusal
to accept the $75 is immaterial. The question under Article III is whether
a live case or controversy exists, and the mere fact that [the plaintiff] did
not accept unconditionally-provided remediation does not extend the life
of the dispute.”
The court also found the class claims to be no longer viable. “[The
plaintiff] argues that the Court should infer that ACH sought to thwart
judicial review by satisfying only [his] individual claims, and not those
of the class members,” the court said. “On this record such an inference
is untenable. ACH discontinued, prior to [the plaintiff’s] demand letter,
the very product about which [he] complained, and made [him] whole in
response to his initial demand.”
Issue 607
