Snack Bar Class Action Dismissed

An Illinois federal judge recently dismissed a proposed class action alleging the defendant somehow misled consumers about sugar in its snack bars despite the ingredient label. See Rochelle Ibarrola v. Kind LLC, No. 3:13-cv-50377, 2015 WL 1188498 (N.D. Ill. 3/12/15).

Plaintiff brought a putative class action against a maker of food products, alleging she purchased its Vanilla Blueberry Clusters with Flax Seeds (“Vanilla Blueberry Clusters”)—on two occasions in 2013. Citing the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act (“ICFA”), 815 Ill. Comp. Stat. 505/1 et seq., she alleged that the packaging of Vanilla Blueberry Clusters was deceptive in that it claimed that the product contained “no refined sugars.” Specifically, she asserted that evaporated cane juice and molasses, identified on the products’ ingredient lists, are refined sugars. She proposed both a statewide and nationwide class of individuals who purchased any of defendant's four identified Healthy Grains products.

Defendant moved to dismiss, and the Court agreed that plaintiff had not plausibly alleged that a reasonable consumer would be deceived by the statements in light of the label information (and the express warranty claim was dismissed because she did not notify Kind of the alleged breach of warranty as required by Illinois law.)

To prevail on her ICFA claim, plaintiff had to allege and ultimately prove: (1) a deceptive act or practice by Kind, (2) that the deceptive act or practice occurred in the course of conduct involving trade or commerce, (3) that Kind intended that plaintiff rely on the deception, and (4) that the deception caused her actual damages. Oshana v. Coca–Cola Co., 472 F.3d 506, 513 (7th Cir. 2006). In addition to these elements, common law fraud requires plaintiffs to allege that the plaintiff actually relied on the contested statement and that the defendant acted with scienter. Thacker v. Menard, Inc., 105 F.3d 382, 386 (7th Cir.1997).

Ibarrola claimed, somewhat obliquely, that she understood “no refined sugars” to mean that the Vanilla Blueberry Clusters contained only “naturally occurring” sugars that had not been refined at all. But, said the Court, this is not plausible. The Court noted it must view the allegedly misleading statement in light of the information available to plaintiff at the time of her purchase. Plaintiff stated that she read the entire product label before purchasing the Vanilla Blueberry Clusters. In doing so, she learned that the product contained evaporated cane juice and molasses—sweeteners that she alleged are at least partially refined. That is, because she admitted reading the entire product label she thus saw that the product contained evaporated cane juice, and must have recognized that at least one of the sweeteners in the Vanilla Blueberry Clusters was derived from sugar cane. Thus, taken at her word, plaintiff alleged that she thought that Vanilla Blueberry Clusters contained sugar cane in its natural state, not having gone through any process to refine it. But sugar cane in its natural state is a grass that contains jointed stalks resembling bamboo. The stalks are made up of fibrous flesh surrounded by bark!

Given this reality, no reasonable consumer would think—as plaintiff alleged that she did—that the sugar contained in the products was still in its natural, completely unrefined state. Even though a reasonable consumer may not understand everything that happens to sugar cane before its derivative can be added as an ingredient, a reasonable consumer would know that all sugar cane-derived sweeteners suitable for human consumption must be at least partially refined. Reasonable consumers do not believe that they are eating straight sugar cane in Vanilla Blueberry Clusters or any other food product because sugar cane in its natural, unprocessed state is indigestible. That is, a reasonable consumer would recognize that, at the least, impurities or unwanted material must be removed from sugar cane before it can be used as an ingredient in Vanilla Blueberry Clusters, and thus, that all sugar cane-derived sweeteners require some form of “refining,” as the dictionary defines the term.

Thus, the Court found that the only reasonable conclusion after reading the entire Vanilla Blueberry Clusters label is that defendant used the word “refined” as a term of art to distinguish only partially refined sugars like evaporated cane juice and molasses from fully refined sugars like table sugar.

Courts have dismissed other complaints premised on such logical inconsistencies. E.g., Rooney v. Cumberland Packaging Corp., No. 12–CV–0033–H DHB, 2012 WL 1512106, at *4 (S.D.Cal. Apr. 16, 2012). See also Kane v. Chobani, Inc., No. 12–CV–02425–LHK, 2013 WL 5289253, at *6 (N.D.Cal. Sept. 19, 2013).

Here, because plaintiff already had an opportunity to amend, the dismissal was with prejudice.