The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a class-action lawsuit that alleged Trader Joe’s Manuka Honey product labeling was misleading. Trader Joe’s marketed its store brand Manuka honey as “100% New Zealand Manuka Honey” or “New Zealand Manuka Honey.” Plaintiffs claimed that these labels were misleading because the honey only consisted of between 57.3% and 62.6% honey derived from Manuka flower nectar. Plaintiffs alleged that the label and ingredient list created a “false impression” that the Trader Joe’s honey contained a higher percentage of honey derived from Manuka.
Continue Reading Sweet Victory: Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Trader Joe’s Honey False Ad Suit
Class Actions
Out of Juice: Judge Denies Class Cert. in Tropicana False Label Suit
In 2011, plaintiffs launched a putative class action with class members from California, New York, New Jersey, and Wisconsin in a New Jersey district court against Tropicana Products, Inc., a division of PepsiCo, Inc. over Tropicana’s claim that its not-from-concentrate orange juice is “100% pure and natural.” The plaintiffs asserted that Tropicana’s processing methods—which allegedly…
Kirkland FACTA Case May Create Circuit Split
Kirkland, Inc. will face a putative class action for allegedly violating the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (“FACTA”). The plaintiffs filed their complaint against Kirkland in April 2017 for displaying the first six and the last four digits of their credit card or debit card numbers on their purchase receipts. According to the plaintiffs,…
Judge Hits Ctrl+Alt+Delete on Facebook User Tracking MDL
Judge Edward J. Davila of the Northern District of California recently administered the coup de grâce to an expansive multidistrict litigation over Facebook’s data use policy filed in 2012. The plaintiffs alleged that Facebook’s data use and privacy policy violated the federal Wiretap Act, the Stored Communications Act, California’s Invasion of Privacy Act, California consumer…
Chipped Away: Frito-Lay Removes “All Natural” Label from Products Containing GMOs
The plaintiffs in a five year old consumer class action against Frito-Lay North America and its parent company PepsiCo, Inc. got their wish earlier this month when Frito-Lay agreed to remove the “All Natural” label from its products containing genetically modified organisms (“GMOs”). In July 2012, a proposed class of consumers who purchased Tostitos tortilla…
Cracking Open a Cold One: Plaintiffs’ False Advertising Suit Against Brewer Survives Dismissal
Earlier this year, two plaintiffs launched a putative class action against Portland-based Craft Brew Alliance, the fifth largest brewing company in the U.S. and parent company of Kona Brewing Co. Craft Brew acquired Kona in 2010, emblazoning its bottles and cans with images and text that conjure Hawaii’s scenery and lifestyle. There’s just one issue: …