Anheuser-Busch has settled a class action alleging that the company misrepresented Beck’s® beer as brewed in Germany after a 2012 move to a St. Louis brewing facility. Marty v. Anheuser-Busch Cos., LLC, No. 13-23656 (S.D. Fla., preliminary approval entered June 23, 2015). The uncapped settlement will provide payouts to U.S. purchasers of bottles or packages of Beck’s® since May 2011, with a $50 limit for households with proofs of purchase and $12 limit for those without. Anheuser-Busch will include the phrase “Brewed in USA” or “Product of USA” on the bottles, boxes and website for at least five years. Plaintiffs’ attorneys will receive $3.5 million. Details about a similar lawsuit Anheuser-Busch settled about the origin of Kirin® beer in January 2015 appear in Issue 550 of this Update. Issue 570
Tag Archives Florida
Kashi Co., a unit of Kellogg Co., has agreed to pay up to $3.99 million in a class action alleging that the company advertised its products as “All Natural” despite containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Eggnatz v. The Kellogg Co., No. 12-21678 (S.D. Fla., motion for preliminary approval filed June 5, 2015). The proposed settlement agreement provides class members who can prove they purchased the products a full refund and those without proof $0.55 per package, totaling a minimum of $2 million and maximum of $3.99 million in claims. Kashi will also remove the “All Natural” label from products containing the contested ingredients and provide class members with compliance information on the Non-GMO Project Verified seals displayed on some of its products. The settlement agreement applies to the national class but excludes California residents due to a settlement in a case involving similar claims. Issue 568
A Florida federal court has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Beam Suntory Inc. and Maker’s Mark Distillery falsely label their Maker’s Mark® bourbon as “handmade” because they manufacture the product using a mechanized process. Salters v. Beam Suntory, Inc., No. 14-659 (N.D. Fla., order entered May 1, 2015). The plaintiffs “have been unable to articulate a consistent, plausible explanation of what they understood ‘handmade’ to mean in this context. This is understandable; nobody could believe a bourbon marketed this widely at this volume is made entirely or predominantly by hand,” the court said. The court first found that the process of making Maker’s Mark® bourbon is handmade in the original sense of the word because it is “distinguished from the work of nature,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary definition. “In that sense all bourbon is handmade; bourbon, unlike coffee or orange juice, cannot be grown in the wild.” The court…
A consumer has filed a purported class action against Natural & Tasty LLC alleging that the company misleads consumers by labeling its Goldbaum Quinoa Crisps® as “All Natural” and free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) despite containing ingredients made from corn and soy because “almost all corn and soy grown in the United States are grown from seeds that have been genetically modified.” Slavinski v. Natural & Tasty LLC, No. 15-80451 (S.D. Fla., filed April 7, 2015). The complaint asserts that nearly all U.S. corn and soy are grown from GM seeds, “and as such, almost all corn and corn-based, as well as soy and soy-based ingredients in the United States are in fact unnatural, synthetic, artificial, and genetically modified ingredients.” The plaintiff points to several ingredients in the quinoa product as unnatural, including maltodextrin, whole grain corn flour, corn starch, and vegetable oil. While similar lawsuits have cited the reasonable…
A Florida federal court has granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss a putative class action alleging that Snyder’s-Lance, Inc. misleadingly labels its pretzels and chips as “natural” despite containing “unnatural genetically-modified organisms (‘GMOs’) and, in many cases, other unnatural artificial and synthetic ingredients.” Barron v. Snyder’s-Lance, Inc., No. 13-62496 (S.D. Fla., order entered March 20, 2015). The court first found that the plaintiffs sufficiently pled economic harm because they paid a premium price based on the “natural” representation on the labels; requiring them to compare rival products on the dates and at the locations that the plaintiffs purchased Snyder’s-Lance products would be “both impractical and impracticable. Unsurprisingly, it is also unsupported by law,” the court said. Summarizing precedent on the issue, the court then determined that the plaintiffs offered enough of a definition of “natural” to survive the pleadings stage. The plaintiffs’ allegation “that a reasonable…
A Florida consumer has filed a proposed class action against Hampton Creek, maker of vegan spread “Just Mayo,” in Florida state court alleging that the product is falsely labeled and advertised because it does not contain eggs. Davis v. Hampton Creek Inc., No. 2015-5993-CA (Fla. 11th Jud. Cir. Ct., filed March 13, 2015). The complaint cites definitions of “just” and “mayo” to argue that the product name fools reasonable consumers into believing that it is mayonnaise despite containing no eggs. The plaintiff further points to the label, which includes an egg-shaped outline, and to the website, which previously advertised the product as “an outrageously delicious mayonnaise that’s better for your body, for your wallet, and for the planet.” She alleges a violation of Florida’s consumer-protection statute and unjust enrichment and seeks class certification, damages, restitution, an injunction, and attorney’s fees. Unilever, producer of Hellmann’s mayonnaise, challenged Hampton Creek’s “Just Mayo”…
Two plaintiffs who alleged that Vital Pharmaceuticals Inc. conceals the unsafe nature of its Redline® Xtreme energy drink have settled with the company for the approximate purchase price of a single product plus interest. Mirabella v. Vital Pharm., Inc., No. 12-62086 (U.S. Dist. Ct., S.D. Fla., joint stipulation and notice of settlement filed March 16, 2015). According to a notice filed with the court, the company has agreed to pay each plaintiff the cost of one drink—$2.50 to one, $2.99 to the other—along with accrued interest within 10 days of receiving general releases from the plaintiffs. A Florida federal court refused to certify the plaintiffs’ proposed class on February 27, 2015. Additional details about that decision appear in Issue 557 of this Update. Issue 559
A Florida federal court has refused to certify a nationwide class in a case alleging that Vital Pharmaceuticals Inc. conceals the unsafe nature of its Redline® Xtreme energy drink. Mirabella v. Vital Pharm., Inc., No. 12-62086 (S.D. Fla., order entered February 27, 2015). Vital Pharmaceuticals argued that the class was unascertainable because it does not keep a master list of consumers, and customers rarely keep finished bottles that would help prove they belong in the class. The court agreed, finding that the energy drink “generally sold for less than $3.00” and customers were unlikely to retain receipts or other records of purchase; in addition, the company sells a variety of similarly branded products that may render consumers unable to determine whether they belong to the class because they might not remember which product they purchased. “Even Plaintiffs are unable to reliably recall or objectively prove how many bottles of the…
According to a joint motion filed in Florida federal court, Papa John’s International Inc. and a class of consumers have reached an agreement in a lawsuit alleging that the pizza company charged tax on delivery fees in violation of state law. Schojan v. Papa John’s Intl. Inc., No. 14-1218 (M.D. Fla., motion filed February 16, 2015). The motion requested that the district court remand the case to state court because the federal court lacks jurisdiction under the Tax Injunction Act and stipulated that the parties “have reached an agreement in principle to settle this action in its entirety upon its remand to state court.” The March 2014 complaint had alleged that Papa John’s charged more than $5 million in state tax on the more than $74.5 million in delivery fees it had earned in Florida since 2010. The court certified a class of consumers and denied the pizza company’s motion…
A Florida federal court has denied the state’s motion to dismiss a First Amendment lawsuit challenging regulations that require products labeled as “skim milk” to contain the same amount of vitamin A as whole milk. Ocheesee Creamery, LLC v. Putnam, No. 14-621 (N.D. Fla., order entered February 7, 2015). Because the process of skimming cream from milk removes much of the vitamin A content, the regulation requires skim milk to contain added vitamin A to bear the “skim milk” label; otherwise, it must be labeled as “imitation milk product.” Ocheesee Creamery’s November 2014 complaint claimed that by refusing to allow the company to sell its pasteurized skim milk with a “skim milk” label unless it added vitamin A—which the creamery views as tainting its “all-natural” products—Florida is censoring its use of the phrase “skim milk.” In its motion to dismiss, the state argued that the creamery had no standing and failed…
